Almost Perfect
by AgentCarter
Summary: Cuddy has the child and husband she's always wanted but nothing is ever perfect...
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: This is a story about domestic violence. There's nothing graphic as it's more about getting out of that kind of relationship but if my mind heads that way I'll give a warning.  
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**A/N: I wanted to write more for Reunion but I'm not entirely happy with it at the moment so I need some time to go through it and maybe re-write some things. So instead I give you this. I started writing this before I wrote Premonition and have added to it as time went on so I have a few chapters already done. At times it may be a bit OOC but no more than my other fics I guess. Hope you like it.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own House...unfortunately....**

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Cuddy reached forward and grabbed the back of the small boy's jacket before he could run to the elevators of PPTH. "Hold it mister. How many times do I have to tell you not to run off?" She asked him sternly before taking his hand and leading him through the clinic to her office.

"Sorry mommy," he said warily with a smile, that matched her own, and sparkling blue eyes. She took off his jacket, ran her fingers through his curly brown hair and let him run to the couch in the corner of his office where he took his medical toys and action figures from his doctor's bag and began inspecting Spiderman for any heart defects. She smiled as she took her own jacket off putting it with his on the coat stand and taking a seat behind her desk. She rubbed her eyes gearing herself up to talk yet another patient's family out of a law suit. This was the third time this week that she had had to come in to work to smooth things over but this time Michael was having problems dealing with it.

"_You can't keep dropping everything for _him_," he hissed at her. She had just come off the phone and was standing in the kitchen running her hands over her face._

"_You knew what my job was like before you married me, Michael. House causes a lot of problems and I'm the only one who can sort it out. They're threatening to sue," she sighed hoping he would understand._

"_This was supposed to be our night. Just the three of us." Michael poked his head round the door and watched the little boy as Spiderman yet again saved Scooby doo and his friends from their dangerous position on the edge of the coffee table._

"_I know but if they sue we'll lose benefactors and in turn money. We're this close," Cuddy emphasised holding the thumb and forefinger of her hand a centimetre apart, "from getting ten more nurses _and_ a brand new physiotherapy suite. I can't let House ruin that," she said trying to get past him standing in the doorway. When he didn't move she sighed and took a deep breath. "The sooner I can go and speak to the patient's family, the sooner I can get back. I'll bring pizza."_

"_You can bring all the pizza you want back. I understand you putting Alex before me but House?" he was raising his voice slightly, fire blazing in his vivid green eyes She flinched slightly as he stepped towards her. "You can look after your son this time." With that he left the kitchen, grabbed his coat from the stand and left the house, slamming the door behind him._

She watched Alex play contentedly in the corner and thought over her marriage. After only two years of marriage the strain was already starting to show between them. She was the all powerful Dean of Medicine and Chief Administrator of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and Michael was working his ass off for the partnership at 'Takyato Advertising'. He never resented her and, when they were dating, understood when she had to break off their dates for Alex or the hospital. They were both her babies after all, what he really resented was her relationship with one Doctor Gregory House. She tried as long as possible to avoid the subject of House but on their third date, House took it upon himself to turn up at the restaurant where she had no choice but to introduce him as her pain in the ass diagnostician and Alex's father. Michael got over the shock soon enough but the confusion as to why Lisa chose House to be a sperm donor was still there, but he ignored it. He had already started to fall for Lisa Cuddy and if he had to put up with Greg House then he would.

Cuddy sighed again wondering what ever happened to that mentality he had and was taken from her thoughts when she could see House heading through the first set of doors to her office. She quickly threw on her administrative face, stood from her seat and walked to lean on the front of her desk.

"Daddy's coming isn't he?" Alex asked looking up at his mother's stern expression.

"Yes he is. But stay there," she told him, her tone softening a little before returning to the matter in hand.

House flung the door open wide smirking. This was his favourite part. He didn't argue with patients and their families just because they deserved it but sometimes – and it didn't happen often – he enjoyed watching Cuddy get angry at him. And he really did love that scrunched up face she made. He froze. She should've started screaming by now, which meant...

"Alex."

The five-year old looked up regarding his father and smiled slightly. "Hey daddy," he said. Then his expression changed to one House had seen a million times before on someone else. "You're in biiig trouble," he added. And with that he went back to talking another "patient's" family into a dangerous treatment. House stared at his son slack jawed while Cuddy watched House with a smirk.

"You turned my own spawn against me?" he said in amazement turning to face her. "He gets that look from you y'know. Yup that's the one." He pointed at her. "Stop teaching my son bad habits."

She snorted. "Bad habits?" she asked in a whisper. "He's sitting there now trying to tell Spiderman, Fred and Shaggy why he should be able to perform brain surgery on Batman. He steals food from people's plates and questions every little thing. You need to stop teaching _my_ son _your_ bad habits." She turned from him sitting at her desk as he sat down, grinning, in the empty chair.

"That's ma boy," he laughed placing his chin on his cane.

"You hit a patient," she hissed. Her anger had been beginning to subside until she spotted the time. She should be at home enjoying a film and a pizza with her son and husband and instead she was sorting out yet another of House's messes.

"He hit me first – "

"Well that's alright then," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"He did," House retorted pointing to his eye.

"Maybe you shouldn't have been making suggestive comments about his wife..."

House looked shocked and held his hand to his chest. "Now that doesn't sound like me." Cuddy raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay maybe it does. I was just commenting on her flexibility. I mean have you seen the positions she can pull? I've see the entire collection of Horny Housewives. She's had the plumber, electrician, gardener, maid and the au pair, together – one of my favourites – and – "

Cuddy held up her hand. "Stop."

"It's not my fault the husband didn't know. There should be no secrets in a relationship," he said and Cuddy could have sworn he was aiming that at her in some way.

"I'm going to need to meet with Mr Blake. Do you think you can look after Alex while I sort out your mess?" She asked him getting up and moving towards Alex.

"This is good. I have a fight with a patient and my punishment is to look after my own child. I think knocking up the boss was the best decision I've ever made. First things first, how to burp the alphabet," he grinned rubbing his palms together. Cuddy frowned at him and sat down next to Alex.

"Be good," she told him running her fingers through his hair. "You know how to get Uncle Jimmy if there's any trouble don't you?" she smiled as the little boy nodded without looking up and the grin grew wider when she saw House was now frowning.

"We don't need Wilson," he told her.

"I know, just in case. Oh and if you leave this office, I want to know. We're going home straight after so I don't want you going too far." And with that she turned and left them knowing that it was highly likely Alex would be burping the alphabet backwards by the time she got back.

***

House watched as Cuddy left the room, taking the time to admire her ass, and then looked over towards Alex. He hadn't seen him since the previous week and hadn't expected to see him for a while longer. The fact that he was at the hospital tonight meant that something was up at the Cuddy/Johnson household, and he wasn't going to give up until he knew what. He heaved himself up using his cane and sat down on the couch where Cuddy was previously seated saying goodbye.

"So," he started.

"Mommy said I can't talk about Michael with you," the child said simply. He was smart, House gave him that but then he was his child, despite Cuddy's genes.

"You get that suspicious nature from your mother," House told him and received a puzzled raised eyebrow in return. "Exactly," he said as Alex shuffled closer to him until he was sat on House's good leg. "Yeah your mother likes to do that too," he smirked as he pulled him in closer. "So if we can't talk about what's-his-name, what do you want to talk about?" He asked leaning back.

"Erm, we could talk about school. I'm on level 4 reading now and I'm the only that can speak a second language. Miss Watson said I was doing really well and we've only just started," Alex told him enthusiastically.

House smiled down at him. "You've got my brains, and don't let mommy tell you other wise."

"When are you going away?"

House's eyes widened. "What?"

"I heard Michael tell mommy that you won't always be here and that I should start calling him daddy." He placed his head in the crook of House's neck trying to shuffle closer than he already was.

"I'm always going to be here." House froze. If someone had told him years ago that he would have a son, with Cuddy, that he would do anything for, he would have laughed at them and admitted them to psychiatrics. But now, he wouldn't have it any other way. He felt needed and…it felt good. "I'm you dad so you don't need another one. Don't listen to Matthew – "

"Michael."

"Well Michael's an idiot who doesn't know his head from his ass." He smiled as Alex giggled at his language. "You'll never get rid of me." He said reassuringly and Alex wrapped his arms around his dad's neck. House was going to have words with Cuddy later on but for now he was concentrating on his son. "Now first things first, you need to know how to burp on demand."

***

Cuddy breathed a sigh of relief as Mr Blake agreed not to take things further if House would apologise. Those nurses and that physio suite were hers. Shaking his hand she told him that not only would there be a face to face apology but she would have House write an official letter apologising as well. Cuddy made her excuses and left. She hurried to the elevator cursing House for his poor bedside manner and praising her own abilities of talking people around to her way of thinking. If she hadn't have become a doctor then she would have made an excellent lawyer, she smiled to herself. Cuddy looked at her watch. 8:15. If she was quick, she could stop by the pizza place, feed Alex and have him in bed before it got too late. House never seemed to think about Alex when he did these things. She knew he didn't like Michael and it seemed that was all that mattered when he was starting trouble. Anything to annoy her husband was fine by him and the only way to do that was to have her called in to the hospital in the evening when they were spending time as a family. Alex was beginning to catch on and had started to ignore what Michael had to say. She was hoping the phrase "you're not my dad" wouldn't be used in her home for a few years yet, if at all, and she was sure House had taught him to say it. She just wished that all the men in her life got on.

"_I'm getting married." House had been in the middle of explaining to her the merits of performing a brain biopsy on a patient with no neurological symptoms, when she dropped the bomb shell. In fact a bombshell didn't really do her news justice. More like dropping a weapon of mass destruction._

"_You're what?" He stopped mid rant, arms still out wide as he tried to grasp the situation he had just been thrown into._

"_I'm getting married. Michael proposed last night and I said yes." She held her breath as she saw House's jaw tighten. He didn't really need to know but she could only keep her left hand under the table for so long before he finally talked her into the biopsy and he saw the ring for himself as she signed off on the procedure._

"_Right," he managed through gritted teeth. "And what does Alex think of this?"_

"_He likes Michael, even if you don't."_

_House dropped his hands to his side and sat down in the chair opposite Cuddy. "Right," he said again. "Are you sure about this? I mean it's only been 4 months – "_

"_It's been just less than a year and yes I am sure," she interrupted him. This seemed to be easier than she thought it would be._

_House nodded, standing from his seat. "Right." He turned and walked to the door, leaving the patient file on her desk._

"_House," Cuddy began. "House. Greg…"_

_He stopped, hand on the door handle, and turned slightly. "Good for you, Lisa." And before Cuddy could stop him he was out of the door and already through the clinic._

The next day, Wilson had come to her office and told her that he had found House passed out on the sofa surrounded by empty beer bottles and a near empty bottle of scotch, along with a few too many vicodin missing from his pill bottle. Cuddy sighed, something that she did a lot when it came to House, as she entered her office. There she saw House and Alex, lying together on the couch asleep. Smiling she moved over to them and sat on the edge of the armchair next to the pair and watched them. It was times like this that reminded her of why she was glad that House took her up on the offer of being a dad to their child despite his own relationship with his father. She reached over and ran her fingers through Alex' hair and then House's just as the door opened behind her.

"What's going on?"

She froze as the familiar voice reached her ears unsure of what to say. Slowly she pulled her hand from House's hair and stood, turning on the spot to meet the furious gaze of Michael Johnson. He'd been drinking, she could smell it on him and she was pretty sure that he had driven here too.

"Michael – "

"Playing happy families are we?" he hissed at her. "Well don't let me stop you."

"Excuse me?" she could feel the anger rising up within her. She took a step towards him. It was time this came to an end. "You know House is his father and he always will be. After 2 years you should have accepted that by now." She wasn't raising her voice yet because she definitely did not want House or Alex to witness this. "I told you I had to straighten things out with a patient's family so obviously I was going to ask House to keep an eye on his own son."

"I knew something was going on between you two. I knew the moment he turned up at the restaurant that time. The way you looked at each other, the way you spoke to him. It was like I was never even there. I knew it!"

Cuddy tensed as she heard stirring on the couch behind her. "What's with the shouting," House whispered, untangling himself from the still sleeping Alex and sitting up. "Oh it's _you_," he spat, standing up and walking to stand by Cuddy's shoulder.

"Stay. Away. From. My. Family." Michael told him, clenching his fists.

House stepped round Cuddy. "_Your_ family?" He pointed to the couch behind him. "That's _my_ son so whatever ideas you have of taking him away from me, get rid of them now."

"House. Take Alex with you tonight. I think Michael and I need to talk," Cuddy placed a hand on his forearm in an attempt to calm him down. The last thing she needed was the two men to come to blows with Alex sleeping on the couch. House looked down at her hand and nodded as he stepped round her and scooped Alex off the couch. Cuddy picked up the boy's toy bag and headed past Michael to get Alex's coat.

"Here, can you manage alright?" She asked ignoring as Michael tensed at her concern.

"Yeah." House told her between gritted teeth. Although his leg hurt like hell, he'd never admit to it. "I'll drop by tomorrow evening and drop him off, if that's okay? I haven't seen him for a bit…"

"That's fine."

"No way."

Cuddy and Michael spoke in unison in answer to his question.

"Thanks," House ignored Michael completely and waited for Cuddy to say bye to Alex.

"He hasn't eaten yet but if he doesn't wake up don't worry about it. What about your things?"

"I'll call Wilson. He can bring them when he brings the take-out." House glanced at Michael, gave out an amused snort, and left the room. He turned slightly, once in the clinic and looked back into the office, seeking Cuddy's eye contact. He gave her a nod and left the hospital, leaning heavily on his left hand side.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone for reading. I'm glad you all seem to like it. This would have been up earlier but I had to make some changes to it.**

**Warning: Fight scene**

Cuddy watched them leave, noticing how much House was suffering carrying his weight and Alex's. On making eye contact with him, she shivered slightly, an act that was, luckily, missed by the other man standing in her office, and smiled. In that small gesture, he told her that he would not only look after their son but he would be at her side if ever she needed it. She turned from them and noticed that Michael was leaning over her desk, breathing heavily. Walking over to him she placed a hand on his shoulder which he immediately shrugged off.

"Michael, I know you're angry, but you've had too much to drink. Let's go home. You can sleep it off and we can talk in the morning."

He spun round nearly knocking her off her feet. "No! We'll talk now. How long?" He walked away from her and stood by the doors looking out at the closed.

"I'm not going to play this game with you." She jumped as his fist broke through one of the glass panels of her office door. "Michael!" She rushed forward and grabbed his bloody hand inspecting it. He pulled from her. "Michael, there's glass in it. We need to clean it up and it looks like it'll need stitches…" She raised her hand and turned his face towards her and spoke softly. "We'll talk. I promise. But first you need to let me clean that up." He nodded and she led him through the now empty clinic, and into an exam room. They were silent as she went about removing the large shard of glass and examining the wound closely. "It looks clean but you need an x-ray." He shook his head, watching as she sighed and began cleaning the cuts.

They remained silent as she proceeded to stitch the deepest cut with expert precision her mind focused on the job at hand, not thinking about the problem that caused it. Michael, on the other hand, was watching her intently, uncaring about the needle being worked in and out of his skin. Instead, thinking about how to resolve the issues between him and his wife. It was only a matter of time before it all got too much for him. No matter what happened, House was there. The past week had been heaven. Although Cuddy had had to go back to the hospital in the evenings because of House, he hadn't actually turned up to the house unannounced at all. In the first few months of their marriage it was difficult to get rid of him and more than once they had come to blows, with Michael aiming for the right thigh while House brandished his cane like a bat. Neither had come off any better than the other but they both knew who won. At the end of all their fights, it was Michael who would have his cuts and bruises looked over by Cuddy, Michael who would sleep in her bed and Michael who would get to have breakfast with Alex in the morning, watching him grow day by day while House himself would get to see him a few times a week. If that. 'Yeah, we all know who the winner is,' he thought.

***

"Did he say he wanted to take Alex from you?" Alex was in bed and House and Wilson were sat on the couch in front of the muted TV – House had TiVoed the L-Word again – and were discussing what had happened.

"Well he said that I wasn't always going to be around and that Alex should get used to calling him dad." House told him as he reached forward for one of the half empty cartons of Chinese on the coffee table.

"And Alex told you this?"

"MmHm."

Wilson nodded taking a swig of his beer. "So what are going to do?"

"Well," House started, noodles hanging from his mouth. "I should talk to Cuddy about it…" He paused slurping the food into his mouth while Wilson nodded at his sensibility, "but I was thinking of shoving my cane so far up his – "

"House." Wilson told him sternly. "Speaking to Cuddy would be better for you as well as Alex. You hadn't seen him in a week before today and if that's got something to do with Michael you need to be careful."

"I know. You think I haven't been thinking about that. I mean, if he was to get his way, what's to say next time I see Alex he's calling me _Greg_ or _House_. I'll talk to Cuddy about it tomorrow."

Wilson nodded. "Good." He looked at his watch running his hand through his hair. "Right, I'm going to go. Alex will probably be waking you up a lot earlier than I ever did in the morning, so you're going to need all the sleep you can get." He smirked as House screwed his face up, knowing that House would probably receiving a 7:30 wake up call. "Night House."

"Night Wilson," House called after him as the door closed behind his friend.

"Daddy?"

House closed his eyes briefly. It had taken him ages to get Alex to go to sleep after the three of them had eaten. And he was ready for sleep himself. Tilting his head right back against the sofa, he saw Alex entering the living room.

"Where'd Uncle Jimmy go?" He asked climbing onto the couch and leaning against House's side.

"Home. It's late. If you're yawning when I get you back to your mother, she'll kill me. On second thoughts…wanna watch the L-Word?" He chuckled at the enthusiastic nod and gave a sigh. "Come on." House got up, pulling the boy with him, it was easier to carry him when he was awake. House turned off the lights and headed to the bedroom feeling the fatigue really start to set in. Even if Alex wasn't, he was going to sleep like a baby tonight. He put the boy down on the bed and watched as he crawled to the right side of the bed, allowing House to get in on the left.

"You didn't brush your teeth," Alex told him, frowning.

"I'm an adult, I don't have to do what I don't want to," he replied sounding like a child himself.

"So you're not leaving then?" Alex asked as House turned off the bedside light.

House froze. That idiot must really have gotten to Alex if he was going to keep asking. He turned on his side and faced him. "I told you. I'm never going to leave you. Or your mom…" With that he turned on his back, allowing Alex to get closer, and wrapped his arms around him as they both drifted off to sleep.

***

Cuddy was outside House's apartment unsure as to whether or not to knock again. Alex would be asleep, and she didn't want to wake him up, but she had nowhere else to go so she tried again.

"Okay, okay. I'm coming. I've got a kid in –" House stopped as he swung the door open and saw Cuddy standing half in the shadows. "I said I'd drop him off tomorrow," he sighed letting her in. Obviously Michael had gotten his way.

"I'm not here to pick him up. I…" She turned to face him, tears in her eyes, make-up smeared and a purple bruise over her left eye.

"What happened?" House grabbed hold of her and pulled her closer, examining her eye.

Cuddy struggled to pull back but was instead held tighter and dragged towards the kitchen. "It's nothing," she lied. To herself just as much as to him.

"That is not 'nothing'," he said as he reached into the freezer grabbing some ice. He let go of her to wrap it in a cloth then placed it gently to her eye.

"He did this didn't he?" He tipped her head, trying to get her to make eye contact but she just concentrated on something over his shoulder. He sighed as she finally succeeded in pulling away to head to the living room. He followed, sitting next to her and handing the ice to her. She took it with a sad smile and held it to her own face. House remained quiet. She would speak if he didn't push it but if he didn't get the full story he was going to need a new cane once he introduced it to its new home.

She was grateful that he wasn't pestering her to tell him what happened but saw that he was finding it difficult. He was probably ready to go to her house to confront Michael but she couldn't let that happen. She took a deep breath and turned to face him.

"_Do you still want to talk?" Cuddy asked as she let them both into the house. He nodded and headed to the kitchen while she took off her coat and headed towards the living room collapsing into the sofa. She switched on the standing lamp behind her, casting shadows over the room. She looked up as he came in, holding two glasses and a bottle of bourbon. Neither of them spoke, the only sounds coming from glass connecting with the coffee table and liquid being poured from one thing to another._

"_You should stop drinking." She told him as he pushed a glass towards her. Ignoring her he picked up his own drink and downed it, feeling the burn down his throat as he poured another._

"_Start talking." His voice was low as he sat on the coffee table in front of her, and she had to lean forward in order to hear him._

"_What do you want to know?" She asked calmly. She had nothing to hide so had nothing to fear but something at the back of her mind was telling her to pick her words carefully._

"_How long have you two been sleeping together?"_

_Cuddy glared at him. "We haven't been sleeping together."_

"_Dammit Lisa! I don't want to hear your lies. How long?"_

"_We haven't been together for years, Michael and you know that. I would _never_ cheat – " She was stopped as the glass Michael had been holding made contact with the wall behind her._

"_I don't believe you," he whispered._

"_Then next question," she demanded, standing from her seat and heading over to the other side of the room. Right now she couldn't look at him. She didn't want to look at him. She could feel the love for him ebbing from her body as she waited for his next question._

"_Why can't you answer Lisa?" She flinched as she felt his breath on her neck. "Is it because it's been going on since day one?" She continued to face the other way in silence, holding back her anger. He spun her around and placed his face inches from hers so she could smell the alcohol on his breath. "TELL ME!"_

"_There's nothing to tell Michael. We've only slept together once. Before you and I even met," she held his gaze as he smirked at her. "So change the record," she hissed at him._

"_I should've guessed you were a whore when your son kept getting my name wrong. I was Michael one day. Derek the next. Kevin. Adam. Jonathan. How many Lisa? I would never have been so suspicious if that idiot you call a son – " He broke off as Cuddy's hand made contact with his face._

"_Never talk about my son that way," she told him through gritted teeth as his own hand covered his left cheek._

"_Bitch." His fist made contact with her face and she stumbled too stunned to keep herself standing or to cry. She definitely was not going to cry for this 'man'. Instead she got to her feet, and tried to push past him, stopping when she felt the vice grip on her wrist._

"_I don't think so." He smirked at her and she winced as his grip got tighter and she could tell there was going to be a bruise later._

"_Let. Me. GO!" She pulled her arm as hard as she could and could feel her shoulder click twice as she did so. Cuddy headed to the front door grabbing her coat and purse. She took off her wedding ring and placed it on the table._

"_I don't want you here when I get back tomorrow. Leave an address. My lawyers will need to know where to send the divorce papers. And for you're information," she added, opening the door. "I know you're lying. I'm not a whore," a small smile drifted over her face. "There was no Jonathan," she taunted and slunk out of the house just in time as glass smashed against the back of the door._

The tears were coming thick and fast now that she was away from him. She promised that he would never see her cry and she had kept it. House sat flexing his knuckles around his cane. He had said nothing through the whole thing and Cuddy could see how hard it was for him not to get up, get on his motorcycle and confront Michael, but he knew that would make things worse and he needed to do what was right by both Cuddy and Alex.

He watched her unsure of what to do. Did he go into doctor mode and heck out her injuries or did he do the 'Wilson' thing and console her. He edged closer slightly placing his hand on her forearm, imitating the gesture she had given him earlier. She looked down at his arm and moved closer, sobbing into his chest soaking his t-shirt. Hesitantly, he placed a hand round her letting her get it all out. They sat like that for five more minutes before she pulled away.

"Do you want me to check out your arm?" He asked, nodding to the wrist that had blue finger marks on it. She shook her head, wiping the tears on her cheeks. "You should get some sleep," he told her. "You go in with Alex and I'll stay out here." She opened her mouth to object but he stopped her. "My leg will be fine. You need your sleep more than I do. I'm a night owl remember."

"If you're sure…" He nodded. "Thank you." She said getting up and heading to the bedroom. House nodded at her swinging his legs up onto the table. He'd give it ten minutes then he'd go.

***

House pulled up outside of the house. He'd checked on Alex and Cuddy before leaving, making sure they were really asleep before leaving. He knew it wasn't the best thing to do but the anger he felt was not leaving his body any time soon. He was going to show Michael how men who hit women were treated. He swung his leg off his bike and headed up the path, stopping along the way to grab the re-located spare key under a group of rocks in the front yard and to pop two vicodin. He let himself in quietly listening out for any sound, prepared to lash out at any given moment. He crunched over glass as he closed the door and nearly slipped on the liquid it was sat in. He looked around, noticing the lamp was on in the living room. Michael was sat on the floor in front of the couch nursing a glass in his hands, a bottle of vodka on the table in front of him.

"I was wondering when you'd turn up. I'm guessing Lisa doesn't know you're here." It wasn't a question. "I knew she would go to you." He let out a sad chuckle. "She'll cheat on you next – "

"You son of a bitch." House rushed towards him, holding his cane out instead of using it to aid him. He ignored the dull throbbing in his thigh and pushed the handle of his cane against the other man's throat. Michael laughed, pushing the cane away and standing to his full height. He definitely had height on his side along with a fair amount of muscle. The first time House had gone against him, he was slightly surprised that a man that sat at a desk all day could generate muscle like that but it had been a pretty even fight.

"Does hitting a woman make you feel big? Clever? It certainly doesn't make you a man," House growled at him, their noses inches apart.

"What happens between my wife and I is our business, not yours."

House wasn't going to stand and make small talk. He pulled his head back slightly before smashing it against the bridge of Michael's nose. The other man staggered falling onto the couch allowing House to stand over him and bring a fist to his jaw.

"How's that feel?" House asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm as his fist made contact with Michael's head again and again while he just sat there laughing. Either he was drunk or crazy, House thought. The latter would be pretty dangerous right now. House took a step back taking in deep breaths. "Pack your things and get out. Tonight." He turned to leave, freezing when he heard laughter behind him. He spun round glaring at the man on his feet now walking towards him.

"You thought it was going to be so easy," Michael smirked at him, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. "Think again." And before House had a chance to think, a loud crack came from his jaw. "She didn't get away with hitting me so what makes you think you will?" He attacked House's torso and while the crippled man was bent double, delivered a blow to his thigh. House screamed out in pain.

"Bastard." He rubbed his thigh still winded from the strike to his stomach. He was hoping to get away before Michael had a chance to go for his damaged thigh again. He looked up to find the man standing over him a smile on his blood covered mouth and a new glass of vodka in his hand.

"I'd do it again, you know. Hit Lisa. She never seems to learn…"

The light bulb switched on in House's head as he processed this new information. "It's happened before? While Alex was around?" The anger was back. He stood ignoring his thigh as much as possible while he seethed.

"She didn't tell you that? What kind of lover are you?" Michael laughed at him. He reached out and grabbed the cane as House swung it behind his head. "I don't think so," he said as he struggled with the cane as well as managing to swing his fist in House's nose. House flinched but didn't let go of the cane. If he did, that would be it. Instead he did the same as Michael, holding the cane with one hand and fitting in his many punches as possible. He could feel sweat – or was it blood? – slipping down the collar of his shirt. He couldn't give up, not now he knew that Cuddy had been suffering in silence for so long. He angled the cane to his liking before giving it a shove, straight into Michael's face. Michael fell back, letting the cane fall, and crashed into the coffee table. Before he had time to register what had happened, House had picked up his cane, kicked him in the stomach and left the house.

"This isn't over," Michael whispered as the door closed on him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I didn't think that I would get this chapter done so quickly but it was snowing and in the typical British way, we panicked. I was meant to go back to uni after a weekend at home but all the transport had stopped and so I had nothing to do all day but write. This chapter's a bit longer than the others and a little warning: even I hated Michael while writing this chapter.**

* * *

Alex stirred as the sun shone through the window. "Mommy?" he asked rubbing his eyes. Cuddy opened her eyes at the sound of Alex' voice.

"Hmm?" she asked. She needed caffeine and she needed it fast.

"Where's daddy?" he asked.

"He's on the couch. We'll wake him in a bit," she told him, reaching out to take him. He wriggled closer to her and she wrapped her arms around him. Before last night she had tricked herself into thinking she had had the perfect life. Okay, so it had taken her a while to settle down but at least she had all she needed to raise a family. Finding the perfect man had been difficult and the urge to bring a child into the world was too strong to ignore, so she had opted for a sperm donor. When House had found out she had been embarrassed but used the situation to her advantage, using his knowledge on genetics to look over her potential donors until he she find someone she trusted. Someone she liked. Not only did she trust House, she liked him too but having a child with Gregory House was absurd. She held onto Alex closer, the thought not so ludicrous now. Then she had started looking at the donors in a more personal way. Square dancer? No. Accountant? No. Likes Mozart? Definitely not. She found that after each one she rejected she was thinking about an ex-lacrosse player. Plays the piano in his spare time. Enjoys puzzles.

"_I need to talk to you." House was with a patient when she walked into the exam room. "When you're done, my office." She smiled at the patient and left heading for her office to wait. It felt like the longest five minutes of her life. Wondering whether or not to go through with asking him. Just as she was about to come up with a good reason as to why she called him to her office, the doors were flung wide announcing that the diagnostician had entered._

"_And how can I service you today?" He asked bobbing his eyebrows._

"_I wanted to ask you something," she said, gesturing for him to take a seat._

"_Not another lame donor," he sighed taking up the seat in front of her._

"_Depends on your point of view," she replied with a small smile. "He uses a cane…" She slapped herself mentally at the way she did it. She should have asked him directly. His jaw had dropped, eyes open wide. Cuddy nodded her head at his unasked question._

"_Why me?" he finally choked out._

"_I trust you. And, for my sins, I like you…" She watched as his features changed from shock to confusion._

"_Right…and what's wrong with the donors?"_

"_You were right. If I chose one of them, my child would be a punch bag. I have the opportunity to pick for smart reasons. You were athletic, you're intelligent and – "_

"_Devilishly handsome?" he asked._

_She smiled. "- can show that you care," she finished. "I'm not asking for an answer straight away or that you're an active part of the child's life, just that you think about it," she told him her eyes glistening at the thought of him saying yes._

"_I'll think about it," he nodded, getting up. He met her gaze to tell if she was serious and, satisfied, left the room._

Cuddy looked down as Alex began to squirm. He liked being in his mom's arms but his dad was in the next room and Alex couldn't remember the last time he'd woken up to both his parents under the same roof. Smiling, Cuddy let him go and followed him as he raced out of the room. House wasn't on the couch when they got there or in the kitchen. Looking out of the window they saw his car and motorcycle still outside. Cuddy spied the vicodin pills on the floor next to a spilt bottle of scotch and frowned.

"He's probably in the bathroom," Cuddy told him. "I'll get you some breakfast then maybe he'll be out by then. Sit and watch some cartoons." She cleared the coffee table of food cartons and bottles, got a towel to cover the spilt alcohol and left him flicking through the channels while she fixed him a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk that she set down in front of him. "Don't spill any," she warned and headed to the bathroom to check House was ok. "House?" she knocked gently so as not to startle him. When there was no answer she knocked again and this time received a groan. She opened the door and gasped at what she saw. House was sat leaning against the bath, head lolling about, blood on his white t-shirt and rubbing his thigh. His pills and half a bottle of whisky lay next to him. She closed and locked the door behind her and rushed forward, holding his head up. "Oh God, Greg. Why did you do it?" She took the cloth out of his hand, stood and rinsed it at the sink before returning, holding his head again. Gently she rubbed at his face as he just sat staring at her. "You're a mess," she told him on a whisper. House showed no sign of paying attention but she continued anyway. "You shouldn't have gone to see him. I told you I was going to get a lawyer and get the bastard out of our lives for good. You might've made things ten times worse."

"It wasn't the first time." House told her, his voice low.

"What?" She was paying more attention to the marks on his face than what he was saying.

"It wasn't the first time he hit you." He said again. "How long has it been going on?"

Cuddy tensed. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Tough." He pulled away groaning slightly at the pain the simple action caused. "How many times?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Cuddy repeated. She dropped the cloth in his lap and turned to lean heavily on the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing the puffiness around her eye. It was a deep purple and her eye was slightly blood shot. She pressed it slightly, wincing. Behind her she could hear House struggling to get to his feet. She sighed and left.

"Yeah, that's right. Ignore the poor cripple that fought for your honour last night," he puffed. Not only was his thigh throbbing and his head pounding from the beating it had taken, he was suffering with a hangover and his stomach lurched with every movement. He removed his clothes and pulled himself into the shower letting the steaming hot water wash the dry blood from his face and run over his thigh. He braced his hand against the tiles and dropped his head letting the boiling water run over his back. He warned Cuddy more times than he could remember about that bastard and each time she shot him down.

"_Where's Alex?"_

_House rolled his eyes as Cuddy opened the door to him._

"_He fell asleep in front of the movie – "_

"_You left him alone?" Cuddy asked incredulously, grabbing her coat off the stand trying to get past him._

"_I'm not completely irresponsible. Wilson's with him."_

_She breathed a sigh of relief and moved back slightly, not allowing him entrance. "Why are you here House? It's two in the morning and I'm getting married in less than twelve hours."_

"_How well do you actually know him?"_

"_Not again, House." House jammed the door with his cane as Cuddy dismissed him trying to close the door on him._

"_I'm not going away until I know you know what you're getting into. This concerns _my _son too…"_

_Cuddy sighed and turned from him, leaving the door open and heading into the kitchen. "Coffee?" She asked as she set the machine._

"_Anything stronger?" He asked standing in the doorway watching her fatigued movements._

"_Beer's in the fridge."_

_House nodded, instead walking over to one of the cupboards and pulling out a bottle of scotch and a glass. She frowned at him as he helped himself to the liquor and drank it in one before pouring himself another one._

"_Why do you always take a keen interest in my love life?" Cuddy asked watching him closely as he gulped down the second glass of the amber liquid._

_He shrugged eyeing her closely. "Let's just say…I'm keeping an eye on my investment. Taking note of all the men he's introduced to…"_

"_If there's something you want to say, House, say it and leave." She raised her eyebrow and turned at the sound of the machine announcing it was ready. She grabbed two mugs and poured the brown liquid, making one to his liking. He was sat at the table when she turned around so she placed the coffee in front of him, removed the scotch and took up the seat opposite, glaring at him over her own cup._

_They sat in silence for a bit before House finally got up the courage to speak._

"_I don't trust him," he said simply._

_If Cuddy was surprised by this, she didn't show it. Instead, she remained quiet, waiting for him to continue._

"_You don't really know him," he continued weakly, studying the coffee intently._

"_I know him enough to know that I love him, Alex likes him enough to grow to love him some day and that he loves us both," she told him calmly._

"_How do you know he loves you?"_

"_He says it every – "_

"_Anyone can tell another person that they love them but how does he show it?" He lifted his head, meeting her gaze and Cuddy saw hint of something that she'd only seen a few times before, then, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. "I just don't think you should rush into anything, especially not when we have Alex to think about…"_

"_Dammit House," Cuddy hissed, standing and slamming her mug on the table causing some of the contents to spill over the edge. "Why can you never just tell me what you're thinking? I hate playing these games with you." She picked up the cup and placed it in the sink, turning her back on him to look out of the window. "For once I just wish that you could be straight with me," she whispered. He got up and stood behind her, smiling as she shivered slightly. She turned to him, his face mere inches from her own._

"_I just want to be sure you know what this guy's agenda is. That he's going to be there for the long haul." She could smell the mix of alcohol and coffee on his breath as he spoke and she closed her eyes briefly._

"_Like you, you mean?" She managed to choke out._

_The corners of his mouth turned up slightly at her strangled words and the redness that was creeping over her cheeks and down into her robe. The close proximity was doing things to her. And he couldn't deny it; it was doing things to him as well. He spared a look at her lips then met her brilliant blue gaze again._

"_I think you should – "_

_She was cut off as his lips came crashing down over her own, mouth open slightly allowing him entrance. He smirked when she showed no signs of pushing him away and instead let her fingers run up his neck, to weave into his hair. One of his own hands resting on her hip, whilst the other trapped her against the counter. Eventually, House pulled back, - lips still touching - allowing them both to breathe in the much needed oxygen._

"_Like I said," he whispered. "How does he show it?" And with that he was gone._

Despite that, she still married him. He bore witness to it too, having to be there for Alex's sake and under the very watchful eye of Wilson. House shut off the water, wrapping a towel around his hips and headed to his bedroom to get dressed.

* * *

"Can I go first?"

House looked down at the over-excited boy and nodded feeling Cuddy's eyes burning into the back of his head the whole time. The whole drive to the mini-golf place had been tense with Alex completely oblivious to the heavy atmosphere between his parents and ecstatic that his mom and dad were both taking him out, together. House stood back to stand beside Cuddy, while Alex knocked the ball as hard as he could to get it over the small bump. Cuddy ignored House's close proximity and, instead, encouraged Alex to try again when the ball struggled to make it over the obstacle and rolled back towards him.

"You can't ignore me forever," House whispered to her.

She tensed. "Maybe not. But at least we can both say I tried."

"I need to know – "

She twisted her head to face him, keeping her voice low. "You don't _need_ to know anything. You _want_ to know. To you it's another piece of the puzzle that is Lisa Cuddy."

He held her fiery gaze and watched the emotion in them as he answered. "It's not just a puzzle to me. I'll admit, there is a part of me that wants to know how such a powerful, independent, manipulative, foxy," he gave her an exaggerated wink, "female such as yourself, allows a man to hit her – more than once – before she finally acts on it. The rest is looking out for my genes." He nodded to where Alex had finally beaten the obstacle and was now trying to get the bright orange ball into the hole. "My main concerns are that he wasn't exposed to any of this and that you don't plan on going back to that bastard anytime soon."

Looking into his eyes, Cuddy softened. He cared about her as well, not just about Alex and his actions last night showed that. "House, it's complicated." There was a small cough from behind them and they both turned to see an elderly couple behind them waiting to begin their own game. House glared at them, opening his mouth to speak only to be stopped by Cuddy. "We'll talk later." And she hurried off to help Alex sink the ball.

* * *

The atmosphere had completely disappeared by the time they had finished and were sitting in the diner across the road. House and Cuddy were back to making sarcastic comments to one another that made Alex giggle even if he didn't know what they meant and his questions about their faces had finally drawn to a close. House had also shown no intention of trying to get her to talk and Cuddy was internally relieved. The waitress brought over their food, looked both adults over as her mouth formed a thin line, shook her head, wished them a good meal and walked off.

"She thinks we did this to each other," Cuddy whispered.

"Well, I look a lot worse than you do so I guess they'll assume you did the beating," he smirked at her.

She bit back a small chuckle. "Well if they saw how you behaved at work, I'm sure they'd understand my motive." He gave a 'who, me?' look and held his hand to his chest as she rolled her eyes at him. The three of them ate in silence for a while until House finally brought up the courage to speak.

"I was thinking – "

"Did it hurt?" She laughed at his growl and the serious look on his face. "Sorry. Continue," she told him with a wave of her hand, still smiling.

"I was thinking that after this, I would drop the two of you off at my house and then go back to yours to see if he's gone…" He watched as her jaw tightened and her hand froze in mid air, holding her soda. "I'm not going to start anything if he's still there. I'll just grab some of your things and leave," he assured her. Her drink made it to her mouth and she drank through the straw slowly, thinking about what he had said.

"He'll still be there," she told him after a few moments of silence. House looked at her, telling her to continue. "It's half his home too." House gave a small groan. "We agreed that it should be _our_ home instead of just mine…"

"Fine. I'll get your things then." She frowned at him and he knew what it meant. "If it'll make you feel any better, I can take Wilson with me –he doesn't have to know why," he added as she saw her eyes widen at the thought of someone else finding out. She relaxed slightly before shaking her head.

"It's fine. Wilson should know. He's always been there for us so he deserves to know." House nodded, giving her a reassuring smile before attacking his food once more.

* * *

"He did what?" House looked over at Wilson whose hands had tightened on the steering wheel, face turning red with anger.

"That wasn't the first time either." House sighed and turned his head back to the passenger window, head pressed against the cool glass.

Wilson removed a hand from the wheel and ran it through his hair. When House had called him this evening asking him to go to Cuddy's with him he had rolled his eyes and told him to leave Cuddy and Michael alone. He sighed when House wouldn't let up and told him he'd be right over with beer and pizza. And here he was, driving to Cuddy's house with House in the passenger seat and the beer and pizza abandoned in the back, hearing about what that…bastard had done to Cuddy.

"How long has it been going on?"

"She wouldn't tell me…" House lifted his head as they turned into Cuddy's street. Even in the dark, House could make out Michael's pretentious sports car. "He's there." He told Wilson solemnly.

"Should I go in on my own?" Wilson asked as he pulled up to the house.

House shook his head. "No, I'm coming in. I don't wanna miss the chance to beat the crap out of him again."

Wilson pursed his lips as both men got out of the car. "As if you don't look bad enough already. If he's in there, we'll get Lisa and Alex their things and then leave."

"You telling me you don't want a piece of this guy?" House asked, pulling Cuddy's key from his pocket.

"Of course I do. But Cuddy doesn't need me making things any worse for her." Wilson waited for House to open the door and followed him into the seemingly deserted home, the only noise coming from the glass crunching from underfoot. "You sure he's here?"

House shrugged, squinting through the darkness, his whole body on alert in case the asshole ran out at them. He reached out for the light and flicked it on, listening out for any movement. He watched Wilson move to the living room and then made his way to the dining room.

"Wow, you really made a mess, huh?" Wilson said, slight amusement in his voice as he saw the coffee table still in bits from the night before.

House gave an amused snort and walked through to the kitchen, turning the light on then off again when he saw it was empty. He made his way back to the hallway. "Nothing here," he told Wilson who was just coming out of Alex's bedroom.

Wilson gave a nod. "No sign of him in the bathroom or in Alex's room." He looked over his shoulder towards the master bedroom and then back to House. "Shall we?"

"Why not?" House walked to the bedroom. "I always fantasised about this moment," he started, hand resting on the door handle, "but in my fantasy, Cuddy was waiting on the other side, sprawled naked on the bed."

"Let's just get this over with, shall we?" Wilson replied, rolling his eyes at his friend's lecherous grin.

House took a deep breath and opened the door with Wilson close behind him flicking the light on. He stepped in, noticing the empty bed and waited for Wilson to check the en-suite.

"Nothing. Let's get their things and get out of here. I'll pack Lisa – "

"No, I'll get Cuddy's things. You go pack for Alex." Wilson gave a sigh at the gleeful expression on House's face and left the room.

House looked around the room like a child in a toy store and reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell. He searched for Cuddy's number and hit dial, wandering over to the chest of drawers as he waited for her to pick up.

"He's not here," he said instantly as the phone clicked.

"Are you sure?" Cuddy didn't sound convinced and House rolled his eyes.

"Yes, the only thing you need to worry about is me packing your underwear…" He smiled as Cuddy groaned and slowly pulled open the drawer he know contained Cuddy's underwear. "Do you want red thongs or black ones?"

"Oh God." Cuddy breathed.

He laughed at her. "Well?"

"Do not look through that drawer, House. Just open it and pull out anything." She sighed.

"But you've got to match. Don't worry, I'll do you proud." He smirked. He bent down, painfully, and pulled out a suitcase from under the bed, heaving it up on to the bed, and opened it. "So you want me to pack you enough to last…?

"Erm…a week? At least. I need to contact my lawyer and find a way to get him out of the house…"

House nodded, holding back a sigh. A week on the couch wasn't going to work but as long as she wasn't planning on making her way back to that jerk, he'd put up with it. He slowly made his way to her closet, yanking the doors open and looking inside. "Do you own anything that doesn't look like it should be on a hooker?" Cuddy growled down phone at him. "Mmm. I love it when you get angry."

"House."

"Okay, okay." He started pulling some clothes off the hangers and threw them on to the bed. Once he felt there was enough, he stooped down picking up a pair of black heels and chucked them in the general direction of the bed.

"Make sure you fold them properly, House."

"I'm not Wilson."

"House." He sighed, put the phone down on the bed and began folding the clothes as best he could and placed them in the case. He snatched up the phone again and made his way back to the chest of drawers, a smile planted firmly on his face.

"Now this is what I'm talking about." He looked carefully through the drawer comparing one set to another before picking his favourite sets and throwing them in the case.

"If you're done with my underwear…I need my hair brush, shampoo, body lotion and perfume then you can get out of my room."

"Huh, that's all the thanks I get. Although I'm sure we can think of something to settle the debt," he said and Cuddy could hear the suggestion in his voice. He picked up the things she asked for and finally left the room. "Right we'll be back soon." He told her hanging up and placing the phone back in his pocket.

"You were looking through her underwear drawer weren't you?" Wilson admonished him once he had finished packing and made his way back into the hallway.

"I would've called you in but they were just _way_ too good to share. You pack everything?"

Wilson nodded. "Yep, clothes, toys…enough to last about two…" He trailed off and looked to the door as it clicked before swinging open to reveal a tall, well built, battered looking man. "Let's go, House." He said as Michael made his way into the house, closing the door behind him and placing a grocery bag down on the floor.

"Aww, leaving so soon? I thought maybe we could sit down and…bond." He said with a smirk. "Discuss, Lisa's…habits in the bedroom. I mean, does she scream as loud for you guys as she does for me?" He laughed as House made to move forward but was held back by Wilson. "Woah, woah. I didn't mean to offend anybody," he smirked, reaching into the bag at his feet and pulling out a bottle of whiskey. He unscrewed the lid and threw his head back, gulping down as much as he could before having to come back up for air. He pointed the bottle at Wilson and spoke again. "I mean, she's sleeping with you too, right?"

"We're leaving." Wilson answered through clenched teeth, hands tightening on both the suitcase in his hand and on House's arm. "Expect to hear from Lisa's lawyer…and the police." He let go of House who was breathing heavily, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides and grabbed Cuddy's suitcase, making his way to the door.

"Call the police, and I'll tell them exactly what Doctor House did to me last night. I'm pretty sure grievous bodily harm charges are there somewhere." He drank some more of the amber liquid and stared right into House's eyes, a smirk firmly plastered on his face.

"House, we're leaving." Wilson was trying to be the bigger man but was finding it more and more difficult the more this bastard spoke. "House," he said again, when he realised his friend wasn't behind him and was instead squaring up to the 'man' before them.

House remained where he was for a moment longer before following Wilson to the door. He watched as his friend took the cases to the car and turned back to Michael, taking a step closer so the pair were standing toe to toe.

"This isn't over," he whispered, with intent, "If you come anywhere near my son or Cuddy, I _will_ kill you." He took a step back and frowned as Michael began laughing hysterically. This guy really was crazy.

Michael's laughter died down as House walked out the door and down to the car. Just before he got in Michael called out to him. "All my love to Lisa…"

House turned back to the doorway and could see the smugness on Michael's face. He turned on his heel to go back there when Wilson's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Haven't you made things bad enough already?" Wilson hissed. "Lisa won't be able to go to the police now unless she risks_ you_ going to jail for assault so I suggest you get your ass in the car so we can get out of here." He walked back to the car and opened up the passenger side, waiting for House to get in.

House remained looking up to the house before letting out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding and turning back towards his friend's car. He got in, only just getting his foot in before Wilson slammed the door shut behind him and made his way round to the driver's side.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks again for reading everyone. The internet was down in halls for a bit because of the crappy weather and I was also writing parts of this chapter by hand in seminars lol. This chapter addresses the whole idea of Cuddy being a strong, independent woman and yet not being treated as such. I hope I did a good job and that everyone is still in character...sorry it's shorter than the others too but I felt it needed to finfish when it did.  
**

**

* * *

**The ride back to House's apartment and been an uncharacteristic silent one. Wilson was annoyed that his friend had gone in fists first without so much of a thought about how this would affect Lisa's legal battle while House was annoyed that Wilson hadn't let him go back and beat the crap out of Michael. Again.

Wilson pulled up to the curb and House didn't even wait for the car to come to a complete stop before unbuckling his seatbelt and flinging the door open. He left Wilson to deal with the bags in the trunk while he went straight to the front door, letting himself into the building and then the apartment.

"House." Cuddy looked up from her seat on the sofa as the door to the apartment opened. Alex was asleep with his head on her lap and she could only watch as House removed his leather jacket, throw it on to the chair at his desk and move straight to the bedroom. She gave a frown and gently tried to untangle herself from the boy on her lap, standing up just as Wilson came through the door with her and Alex's bags.

"What - ?"

Wilson dropped the cases and held up a hand, not looking at her. "Just give me a minute." He replied and headed for the kitchen to get a drink.

Cuddy stood in the middle of the room looking from the kitchen to the bedroom, wondering where to go first. She had no idea what had happened but she needed to find out as well as mediate whatever was going on between the two friends. She decided to talk to Wilson and followed him into the kitchen to see him leaning on the table, breathing heavily a beer bottle at his left hand.

"James…what happened?"

He turned around to face her and his previous bad mood melted away as he saw the bruise around her eye. "Michael turned up," he began with a sigh, "just as we were leaving, nothing happened." He told her quickly as she visibly tensed. "He tried to get a rise out of us – and God did he try hard. It took everything I had not to finish what was started last night, but we left. It took a bit of persuasion to get House in the car." He thought about telling her about what Michael had said about bringing charges up on House if she went to the police but decided he'd leave that for House to tell. He took a step forward and placed a hand on his arm. "Why didn't you say anything, Lisa?" He asked her.

It was her turn to turn away now and she looked towards the sleeping form of Alex. "It's late, James, I need to get Alex into bed." She turned back to face him and caught the tail end of his sigh. "Thank you. For everything." She stood on her toes and planted a kiss to his cheek before turning back to the living room and scooping Alex off the couch and into the bedroom.

"Lisa…" Wilson exhaled slowly as she disappeared and took another swig of his beer.

House was sitting on the edge of the bed with his face in his hands as Cuddy walked in with Alex. He looked up briefly then returned his face to his hands. He knew Wilson was right but it was the principle of the thing. How was he supposed to let something like that go? He looked up again when Cuddy tapped him on the shoulder and gestured for him to leave the room. He gave a nod of understanding and left the room, ignoring Wilson sat on the sofa and moved straight to the kitchen to grab some kind of alcoholic drink. He needed to get rid of his anger and the only way that was going to happen was to drink until he couldn't remember what he was angry at.

"Alex is in the other room. Do you really want to get drunk while he's around?" Wilson piped up from the couch and House rolled his eyes as he opened the fridge. "I took the last beer anyway. If you want more they're in the car." He ignored the glare and raised the bottle to his lips, draining the last of the liquid before standing.

House made his way to the couch and practically threw himself down onto it. "Bring the pizza in while you're at it."

Wilson smiled. That was House's way of apologising and with House you had to take what you could get. "Nope, I'm going home." He looked up to see Cuddy coming from the bedroom. "Speak to her," he whispered and walked to the door. "Call me if you need anything, Lisa."

Cuddy smiled and gave a nod as Wilson left the apartment and closed the door behind him. She stood for a minute wondering whether or not to tackle House's behaviour when he tilted his head back against the sofa and spoke up.

"What's for dinner? Wilson took the pizza."

* * *

House and Cuddy sat in silence staring at the TV. House was itching to get Cuddy to speak but he knew how pushing her usually ended up and he needed her to trust him. After a few more minutes, Cuddy reached forward for the remote, switching off the TV and turned to face him, one leg beneath her and the other hanging over the edge of the couch.

"What do you want to know?" She asked as House turned his head to look at her head on.

"Everything." He said his gaze boring into her. "When it started, how many times, if Alex was ever there. Everything."

She nodded and lowered her eyes to her fingers, currently resting in her lap before speaking. "It wasn't all physical though. The odd snide comment, an occasional order, sometimes he'd even tell me what to wear…"

"How long, Cuddy?"

"Just over two years."

House looked at her incredulously. "You didn't even make it to a year?!"

Cuddy gave a huff of air and shook her head. "No…I guess not."

"You guess not?" House continued to stare at her while she studied her fingernails. "Why?"

"'Why' what?" She asked finally looking up. "Why did he do it? Why did I stay? Why did it take so long…?"

"All of the above and more. Start with the 'why he did it' and we'll go from there."

"It was around Alex's third birthday – he wasn't around." Cuddy added seeing House opening his mouth to speak. "You were taking him for the weekend after his birthday and when you left, we argued, he hit me."

House watched as she turned her attention back to her lap, playing with the edge one of his t-shirts she had commandeered for herself. "What were you arguing about?"

"Does it matter?" She sighed knowing that, to him, it did. "You." She lifted her head to see House raise one eyebrow in confusion. "You said something to him he didn't like and I defended you. 'Ignore him. It's just House being House.'" She let out another sigh. "He didn't appreciate it and…well…" she pointed to her face and House nodded in understanding.

"You told me you tripped when you were out jogging." He said, jaw clenched.

"I lied. Everybody does it."

"Why did you stay?" House was perplexed as to why a strong woman like Cuddy would stick around after something like that.

Cuddy snorted. "I didn't. I packed my things and went to a hotel and stayed most of the weekend until just as I'm about to leave to pick up Alex, he turns up and apologises and…" She let out a sigh. "He cried, House. Like a baby, begging and pleading." She gave a sad smile at House's upturned face. "It's pathetic, I know but…I couldn't help it. I loved him."

"So you went back to him." House said, his voice full of disgust and she nodded in agreement. "Then what?"

"Last year. We were in Spain…"

House frowned. "You came back with a broken wrist."

Cuddy nodded solemnly. "Snapped like a twig. He wasn't a fan of the attention my clothes were attracting."

"You were on holiday. Did he want you in jumpers and pants?"

Cuddy shrugged and continued. "The next time was a few months ago, after the fundraiser he didn't like the fact that I had to spend most of the night making sure you didn't upset any of the benefactors. Said I spent too much time with you than with him…."

"…fingers in the car door…" House remembered that one well, he had walked in on her and Carey from cardiology in an exam room and questioned her about it then. "And I suppose he cried and begged and you went running back to him like some kind of Stepford wife." House felt sick, he wished he'd never asked but he needed to know. It was, after all, another piece of the puzzle.

"He didn't even need to beg." She smiled sadly. "I'd seen all kinds of women come into the clinic, claiming they'd fallen over. Their partners stood next to them as I put in stitches or booked an x-ray and I always wondered why they lied and protected them then went back to them. I always figured that if I was ever in that situation I'd leave it and never return but…" she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Love makes us do uncharacteristic things."

House gave a wry snort and looked back to the TV. "You're just another smart woman that's dumb about men."

Cuddy let out a short laugh and watched him as he seemed to let everything sink in then turned her attention back to her lap. The silence washed over them and House finally spoke up.

"Are you going to go back to him?" He turned to look at her and she raised her head to look into his eyes. After a short moment she shook her head.

"You don't seem sure." He said, picking up on the hesitation before her answer.

"I don't want to go back to him." She took a deep breath. "I'm _not_ going back to him." She said determinedly.

"So what made you leave now? After two years of mental and physical abuse, how come you're so determined to leave now?"

Cuddy was silent for a moment and House let her have her moment but continued to watch the thought process going on inside her head. After a few minutes of pulling at the cotton coming from the bottom of the t-shirt, Cuddy spoke up.

"Every time, I thought he wouldn't do it again. He _told_ me he would never do it again and I guess I believed him," she said with a shrug. "But when he hit me the other night…that was it. I'd finally had enough."

"At least you figured it out before it was too late…" He looked at the TV, staring at his and Cuddy's reflections in the blackness of the screen. What would he have done if he didn't find out until it was too late? He probably wouldn't have left the bastard breathing.

Cuddy looked at his profile, wondering if he was thinking what she was. What if she had left it until it was too late. She looked behind her towards the bedroom and tears began to form in her eyes. She instinctively shuffled closer to House until their shoulders were touching and she wanted nothing more than for him to tell her that everything was going to be ok, she didn't expect it though and instead took comfort in the fact that he was there and helping her through this.

"I was thinking about going to the police tomorrow…" She frowned as he tensed and then took a deep breath in. "What's wrong?"

Letting the breath out, House nodded. "You should go to the police. Do you want me to go with you?" He was worried Michael would file charges against him if Cuddy went to the police but she needed to do it. He didn't want to go to jail, life without his cane, vicodin…Alex and Cuddy…

Cuddy continued to study House as his reaction confused her further. "What's wrong?"

House sighed and sat forward with his head in his hands. "Nothing." He muttered. "I'll come with you tomorrow. Call Wilson and ask him to look after Alex while we're at the station. I need some sleep. Do you mind…?"

"It's your bed, House." Cuddy watched as he left the room before pulling out her cell to call Wilson.

"Lisa? What's wrong?" Wilson's voice came from the other end of the phone and she gave a soft smile, feeling good that the two men in her life cared for her so much.

"Everything's fine, James. It's just…I was wondering if you could watch Alex tomorrow."

"Err…sure. What are you and House doing?" Wilson had fallen asleep on his couch in front of a Hitchcock film and was still trying to get his mind to catch up with what was going on.

"House is coming with me to the police stat-"

"He's what?" Wilson was sure he was hearing things. House wouldn't give himself up like that surely.

"What's going on, James? House tensed up at the mention of reporting everything to the police and now you…Did something happen tonight with Michael?" She frowned, staring into the distance as she tried to figure out what was happening.

Wilson cleared his throat before talking. "I…may have mentioned to Michael about you going to the police…" Cuddy's brow furrowed deeper as Wilson paused. "And his response was that if you did that, he would report the fight…Lisa, House may be willing to go to jail for you but...he wouldn't be able to cope, despite what he said, you can't go."

Cuddy was currently going through all the emotions. Anger, sorrow, pride, surprise…

"Lisa?"

Cuddy snapped herself out of it. "I'm still here. I still need to talk to House tomorrow…"

"I'll be there around 11."

"Thanks, James." Cuddy hung up, throwing the phone down next to her and made her way to the bedroom, turning the lights off as she went. House was on his back one arm around Alex who was curled up to his side. A sad smile appeared on her face as she watched them for a few moments before getting into the bed the other side of Alex and settled down to go to sleep.

* * *

Cuddy woke to the feeling of something wet making it's way across her face and stifled laughter. When she opened her eyes, she was faced with House looming over her, a marker in his hands and a smile on his face.

"Morning." He said, standing up straight, recapping the pen and taking a step back. Alex was on the bed next to her now on his stomach as he let his laughter ring out.

"House," Cuddy hissed at him, flinging the bed sheet back and swinging her legs round the side of the bed. She made her way to the bathroom, ignoring the laughter coming from behind her and looked in the mirror. There drawn on the right side of her face was half a cartoon moustache, a monocle, a horn along her temple and "she-devil" written on her forehead.

"HOUSE!"

House looked at Alex and pulled a face. "Scatter." He said with a smile, watching as Alex ran laughing to the living room. He smiled after him and walked out into the hallway, looking to his right and seeing Alex watching him from the couch with a huge grin on his face, then with a sigh, turned to his left and went in the direction of the frustrated mumblings. He huffed out a laugh when he saw Cuddy frantically scrubbing at her face.

"It's not funny, House. I'm going to have to take away all his pens now because he'll want to do that _every_ morning. God, House, why do you not think before you do things?" Her shoulders dropped as her words registered with her. It was true in every sense; from dangerous tests and treatments at work, to what he does in front of Alex to how he behaved two nights ago. She dropped her hands to brace against the sink and hung her head in defeat.

House frowned at her words and change in body language and took a step towards her so he was standing right behind and staring at the top of her head in the mirror. "It's just a bit of pen, Cuddy. You were lucky; he almost took a permanent marker to your face." He grinned, ignoring the true meaning of her words, as she snorted in wry amusement and lifted her head up to meet his gaze in the mirror. He couldn't help but laugh then at the pen on her face and she offered him half a smile, biting the inside of her cheek to prevent it from becoming more. She raised the wash cloth back to her face again but was stopped by his hand reaching for the cloth. He took it from her and she turned to face him as he rested his cane against the sink and then took the cloth to her face. She avoided looking at him as he attempted to remove the ink, instead opting for a point over his shoulder until he lifted her chin up to remove the ink around her eye. She watched House unashamedly as he seemed more interested in removing the ink than anything else. Once all the pen had gone, his eyes met hers and he was about to speak when there was a knock at the door. Both adults turned their attention to the door.

"That'll be Wilson," Cuddy told him, her voice low.

House tensed as he remembered what he had agreed to do the night before. "The police station…"

Cuddy nodded, taking in the hard expression in his eyes. "Do you still think I should go?" She asked him as he dropped his hands to his sides.

"Without a word, House gave a half nod, his brows furrowed as though in deep thought as he left the room to let Wilson in leaving Cuddy standing alone wishing he would just talk to her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this has taken so long yet again. I've had loads of deadlines creating websites,music videos and writing scripts. I thought my course was going to be easy...they lied. When I did have time to write I was either thinking in terms of a script or had writer's block. Thanks for the reviews and for sticking with me even though I suck at updating. Hope you like this chapter...it has been doing my head in a little bit...**

**Also, I know nothing about British law let alone American law so it's either what I got from TV or just guess work and common sense  
**

* * *

The drive to the police station had been an unbearably silent one. House had insisted on driving on driving and Cuddy had welcomed the opportunity to sit and think about her options. If she reported Michael, would House's reaction be justified or would he get arrested for assault too? That was even assuming anyone believed her…Cuddy rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger, attempting to relieve some of the pressure building up behind them. Then there was Thomas to think about. How could she explain to her son that his father couldn't see him because he was in jail? Or why House couldn't stay and put him to bed after a visit because of the tag around his ankle? She shook the thoughts from her head as House pulled in to the parking lot at the police station. She sat there, staring at the building sure of her decision.

House sat silently, waiting for Cuddy to get out of the car and head into the police station. He just wanted her part to over so he could concentrate on what he was going to do for himself.

"You going in?" He asked, the silence and the wait becoming almost too painful.

Cuddy shook her head. "No."

"No?"

"No."

House quirked an eyebrow in confusion. "Why not?"

Cuddy turned to look at him. "Wilson told me about what Michael said." She watched as his expression went from confused to understanding as he then turned his back to looking straight ahead.

"You need to tell the police."

Cuddy eyed him curiously. "Since when did self sacrifice become one of your personality traits?" She asked him.

House turned to look at her, a stern expression on his face. "When you gave birth to my son."

Cuddy gaped for all of a second before tears began to fill her eyes. She knew how much House loved Alex and that he would do anything for him, but she had never heard him say it in as many words. This was the closest he had come to _saying_ what he felt as opposed to showing it and she felt overwhelmed with emotion.

House rolled his eyes at her emotional display and heaved a sigh. "Crying doesn't become you, Cuddy. Now just go in there and do what you _have_ to do." He reached out to unbuckle her seatbelt in the hope that she would just get it over and done with but Cuddy seemed to have different plans. She reached out for his hand and held on to it, giving it a slight squeeze and waiting for House's eyes to travel up her arm to meet her teary gaze.

"I'm not going to speak to the police, House. I won't do it to you. I won't do it to Alex and I certainly won't do it to Wilson." House huffed in amusement and Cuddy smiled. "I couldn't do it to myself either. I don't know how I would have done this without your help. It's not just Alex that needs you. _I_ need you too."

The pair sat in silence for a few moments before House finally broke the intense eye contact to look straight ahead, removing his hand from her grip in the process.

"Cuddy, what I did was stupid. I didn't _think_ before I round there and beating the shit out of that bastard. I'm not the knight in shining armour type. I made things worse," he turned to look her in the eye. "You shouldn't have to keep protecting me." He said quietly.

"You're right. I shouldn't. You should be protecting us like you've been doing so far but you can't do that if Michael presses charges."

"Cuddy – "

Cuddy raised a had to silence him. "House, I've made a decision. I'm not going to put any of us in that position. So, for once, just give up."

House closed his mouth and hung his head, his mind trying to come up with some kind of argument to get Cuddy to talk to the police. He looked up and held her gaze. She'd made up her mind and there was no way of changing that. If it was hospital business, there was no doubt in House's mind that he could talk her into his way of thinking. This on the other hand, was a lot harder than he had originally thought. He made a mental note to speak to Wilson later about his big mouth. He was, however, internally grateful but at the same time he was annoyed with himself for acting first and thinking later.

"What are you going to do then?" he asked reluctantly.

Cuddy gave him a warm smile. "I'll call Marcus when we get back and get him out of my life – our lives – for good." She was smiling broadly and House allowed himself to return her grin, even if only for a second. If he had thought first, then Cuddy could be sure that Michael would be out of their lives for good. As it was, she was now going to have to assume that Michael would leave her alone once the divorce had gone through.

"What makes you think that he's going to stay out of your life?" He asked voicing his concerns.

"There is no guarantee but at least I know that I won't have to deal with him alone."

House avoided making eye contact with Cuddy, her words making him feel slightly uncomfortable and self conscious. He would be there to support her for as long as she and Alex needed him but having people that weren't Wilson acknowledge that made him feel uneasy. He sighed and reached for the key still in the ignition.

"Are you sure you don't want to do this? He tried one last time.

Cuddy nodded. "I'd hate for you to become someone's bitch." She said with a smirk. House tried his best to glare at her but couldn't hide how relieved he was. "Now drive."

__

The bed was empty when House woke up the next morning. He rolled over to check the time, reaching for his pill bottle at the same time. 09:37. He swallowed a pill and gave a yawn as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stretched. He rubbed a hand over his face as he tried to gather his bearings. He briefly remembered Cuddy trying to wake him up earlier but he had let out a groan, rolled over and placed a pillow over his head. He knew that letting her stay would mean she would try and get him to go to work earlier.

With another yawn, he pushed himself to his feet and made his way to the bathroom for a shower. Apart from their talk in the car, yesterday had been pretty uneventful. They had stopped off at the grocery store so that Cuddy could get food she figured was more suitable to feed a five year old than what was in his cupboards were currently stocked with, then went back home where Cuddy started cooking a Sunday lunch. Wilson had stayed all day and Alex was practically dizzy from the excitement of spending the day with his mom, dad and Uncle Jimmy. Eventually the excitement had become too much for him to handle and eventually ended with him throwing up, which Cuddy blamed on House for letting him eat too much ice cream, and had to go to bed early, leaving House, Cuddy and Wilson to discuss the current situation and for an argument to break out over the size of Wilson's mouth.

House got out of the shower and dressed quickly before leaving his home heading to the hospital. His team had tried to call him twice and left a message about a new patient. It sounded like a total snooze fest so he figured the patient would live until he made it to the hospital so he decided to take the scenic route on his bike so he could think. Although he didn't want charges pressed against him, he knew that the best thing Cuddy could have done was to speak to the police. Or at least get a restriction order out on the guy/. But she was just as stubborn as he was outside of the hospital.

Eventually House made it to his office. He dropped his bag on the desk and made his way to the empty conference room. He briefly glanced at the symptoms written on the board and made himself a cup of coffee before taking a seat at the glass table opposite the white board and pulling a case file towards him. He scanned through the pages before deducing that his team were indeed the idiots he constantly told them they were. The patient just needed some B12 but the idiots were doing a tox screen and an MRI. House smirked over his coffee cup and heaved himself to his feet. Jerking them around for a bit would divert their attention away from the cuts and bruises on his face and perhaps relieve some of the stress he'd been having these past few days. Speaking of stress, he placed his mug in the sink and left the room, making a call to the nurse's station on his cell to arrange for a banana bag to be hung for the patient with the strict orders not to tell his team. With a smirk, he entered the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor.

__

"I believe you, Lisa. But you have no evidence if he decides he wants to bring adultery to the table."

Cuddy's shoulders dropped slightly at the news. Marcus Fitz was one of the best lawyers in Princeton and, luckily for her, a close friend.

"Your best bet is to go to the police and get a report filed." He continued.

"Marcus, I already told you, I'm not going to the police. There's too much at stake."

"There's more at stake if you don't go." He gave a short sigh as she glared at him and looked through his notes. "If he tells his lawyer that he thinks you were sleeping with someone else during the marriage, the split will be seen as _your_ fault and you may risk losing the house. Greg didn't make things any better either…"

"But what's done is done so give her advice she can use."

The pair looked up, slightly startled at House's sudden appearance. He had seen them talking and so had let himself in as quietly as possible and had caught the tail end of Marcus' words.

"Marcus." House greeted curtly.

"Greg." Marcus replied, matching his tone.

Cuddy smirked at the two men feigning indifference to one another. All their greetings had begun this way. Cuddy had known Marcus since college and when he had been offered partnership at a firm in Princeton, Cuddy had taken him out to dinner and House had turned up, hoping to ruin another date. Cuddy had taken a great pleasure in seeing House's face when Marcus made a move on him.

"Is that a pill bottle in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" Marcus asked with a wink.

"Wilson started something he couldn't finish and I heard you were in the building so…" House retaliated with a shrug, sitting beside Cuddy on the sofa.

"Would you two like some privacy or can we get back to the situation in hand?" Cuddy asked. The two men raised their eyebrows at her double entandrè and she rolled her eyes. "Grow up." As much as she enjoyed listening to their innuendo filled banter, she did want to find out exactly where she stood with the divorce.

Marcus cleared his throat. "As I was saying before I was distracted by false promises…" He and House shared a smirk before both becoming serious again. "If he doesn't bring up adultery or the assault then we're looking at a fifty/fifty split. There's not really much I can do until I serve him with papers and hear from his lawyer." He looked at his watch and began to gather his papers together.

"That's it?" House asked. "You get paid obscene amounts of money and don't even do anything."

"Sounds like someone else I know." Cuddy said, glaring at him as he childishly poked his tongue out at her. She turned back to Marcus. "He was still at the house on Saturday so you may as well send the papers there…"

"Marcus raised an eyebrow. "So you're staying with House?" Cuddy glanced at House and he gave a short nod. She was going to stay with her parents but if he didn't mind then wasn't going to argue. "Looks like I've got a reason to visit more," he smirked.

"You should visit anyway." Cuddy told him sternly. "Alex hasn't seen you in months."

"I know. I'll take him out this weekend but right now, I have another appointment to get to." He and Cuddy stood from their seats to say goodbye. As he got to the door, he turned to address House one last time. "Net time, I expect you to put out."

"Buy me dinner first." House retorted and with a chuckle, Marcus left the room.

Cuddy moved over to her desk to do go through some of the files that were piled up on her desk, momentarily forgetting House was still in the room until he moved to stand over her desk, casting a shadow over her paperwork. Slowly, her eyes moved from his shadow to his body and eventually his face.

"So…" He started, sitting down in one of the chairs opposite her.

Cuddy looked down at the pile of paperwork on her desk then back up at House and let out a sigh. "If he brings up the affair he thinks we're having then I may lose the house and…" Cuddy took a deep breath before she spoke again. "He could also ask for regular visits to see Alex – "

"Not a chance!" House replied, anger surging though his body. "That bastard is NOT going anywhere near Alex." He went into his jacket pocket and pulled out his bottle of vicodin, pouring one into his palm and throwing it to the back of his throat.

"I know. I don't like it either. That's why I have Marcus, to make sure that never happens. If Michael thinks that he was a big part in Alex's life – which for three years, he was – he can _try_ to get some kind of regular visitation rights."

House stood from his seat, a hand extended in front of him. "Ya'see, _this_ is why you should have spoken to the police. That way, we would've known that you would get the house and he wouldn't have any contact with Alex what-so-ever."

"House, I told you, I'm not going to the police. Marcus is one of the best and he will do all he can to make sure Michael is not allowed anywhere near us. Now, I have a lot of work to do and no doubt you have some you want to avoid so if you don't mind..." Cuddy nodded in the direction of the door and pulled a file from the top of the pile, looking through it briefly before signing it, adding it to a different pile and then pulling a new file in front of her. House frowned, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to get more from her, no matter how hard he tried.

"We'll talk later." He told her and stood up, making his way to the door. He looked back at her, glaring at the top of her head when he noticed that she didn't appear to acknowledge his words. He pulled open the door and made his way back to his office. What he needed now was to screw with some people and luckily there were four of them waiting in his office right now.

__

"We wasted time and money conducting unnecessary tests for a B12 deficiency all because you were bored." Foreman shook his head and rose from his seat.

House shrugged as his fellows looked at him incredulously. "Dull weekend." He lied, making his way into office.

"I'll be in the clinic."

House sat at his desk, swinging his legs up on the table, a smile on his face as his employees left the conference room passing Wilson on their way to the elevator.

"What did you do?" Wilson asked as he entered the room and occupied the seat in front of the desk.

House gave a small shrug and placed his hands behind his head as he leant back in the chair. "They couldn't recognise a simple B12 deficiency…"

"…so you jerked them around for a bit." Wilson finished, shaking his head with a smile as House nodded. "So…did you speak to Cuddy?" He asked, suddenly becoming serious.

House glared at his friend for a moment then gave a soft shake of his head. "Her lawyer was here earlier."

Wilson waited for him to continue and frowned when he didn't. "Well…what did they say?"

House lowered his arms and removed his feet from the desk, pulling himself to the table and resting his forearms on the surface. He looked down at the table for a moment then looked at Wilson. "He could tell his lawyer that Cuddy was having an affair – "

"With you?!" Wilson interrupted incredulously.

House rolled his eyes. "Does it matter who?"

"Wait, you aren't actually having an affair are you?"

"You're an idiot. I'm not sleeping with Cuddy. And she's not having an affair. He just thinks we are – "

"But you're not." Wilson interrupted again.

"No. We're not." House let out a sigh as Wilson gave a nod apparently satisfied by the answer. "I'm guessing I don't have to explain to you what happens in a divorce if adultery's involved."

Wilson shook his head and leaned back in his chair eyeing House curiously. "There's something else you're not telling me…" House narrowed his eyes. "Oh my God. You _are_ having an affair. That explains why you let her stay – "

"No." House interrupted. "Her being the mother of my child explains why I let her, _and my son_, stay. We're not sleeping together." House turned his chair to the computer and opened up his web browser.

Wilson continued to stare at him. "There is something else though."

House let his head drop forward before turning back to face the annoying oncologist. "He could claim he had some kind of fatherly role with Alex and ask for regular visitation."

Wilson's mouth hung open. "But…He…I mean…Can he do that?"

"I just said so, didn't I?" House turned his attention back to the screen. He wasn't doing anything in particular, just looking for a distraction.

"So what are you going to do?" Wilson asked, recovering from his initial shock.

House's jaw tightened. "There's nothing I can do. If you hadn't told Cuddy about what he said, then she would have reported him and he wouldn't be able to go anywhere near Alex _or_ Cuddy – "

Wilson held up a hand defensively and stood from his seat. "You're scared, I get it. But my keeping you from adding to your criminal record is a good thing." He walked towards the door and turned back to his friend. "Just be there for her, House. She's going to need you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter. I'm glad that people seem to be giving this story a chance even if they're skeptical about Cuddy being a woman that would allow herself to be in this kind of situation. I'm trying to keep everybody in character, _especially_ Cuddy, to show that a lot of seemingly strong women can succumb to this kind of thing.**

**So here's chapter 6. Bit difficult in parts but I think that I vaguely know where I'm going with this and I've been going over Reunion too. It seems I find it easier to write when I have a load of work to do :| The next update my not be for a couple of weeks (again) because I worked out that if I do all my work this week and hand it in next week then I'm free until late September and then concentrate on getting this and Reunion finished.**

* * *

Cuddy let out a sigh as the lights to the clinic were turned off. She looked at the pile of paperwork that still needed to be sorted through then looked at her watch knowing full well that is was 6pm. Taking a deep breath she pulled another file towards her and began to read through it, signing off on it at the end. Usually, she would take this kind of work home with her where she could sit in the dining room where she could concentrate on her work while Alex would watch a DVD in the living room or be playing with…

_Michael._

She took a deep breath. She shouldn't be afraid of saying his name and yet just the thought of it brought both the good and bad memories to the surface. Reaching out, Cuddy picked up a bottle of water and unscrewed the lid, taking a mouthful to try and settle her stomach.

Living with House meant that taking her work 'home' was more difficult. There was no where for her to sit quietly. House would be with Alex in the living room so that left the bedroom but when Alex needed to go to bed where would she go? House would be slumped in front of the TV and probably do his very best to annoy her. The only place she had left was her office and the fact that all the day shift employees were heading home disheartened her.

There was a knock at the door and Cuddy smiled as Wilson popped his head through the small opening.

"Working late?" He asked, opening the door wider and entering the office, his coat hanging over his arm and his briefcase just visible beneath it.

Cuddy nodded. "Just some reports that need signing by tomorrow." She told him with a wave of her hand to the paperwork on her desk.

"I heard your lawyer was here today." Wilson commented, sitting down in front of her.

"Yeah," she replied, letting out a sigh and eyeing up another report. This months finance report but the numbers seemed to merging together until there was just a sea of undecipherable figures. She looked up at him and leaned back in her chair, running her hands over her eyes. "I don't know how to deal with this, James." She placed her hands in her lap and looked up in the oncologist's warm brown eyes.

"Knowing you, your lawyer is the best that money can buy, and knowing you even better, you know that lawyer and you're getting one hell of a discount." Wilson joked and Cuddy smiled softly. "I don't know what you're going through…" Cuddy raised an eyebrow and Wilson gave a snort of amusement. "You know what I mean. I don't know what it's like to have someone you love…physically hurt you but I know that you're a strong woman – you run a hospital, deal with House and the go home to a five year old – you can get through this."

Cuddy smiled at him as his words having a positive affect on her. After Marcus had left, she had had this feeling that staying strong would be harder than she thought but Wilson was right. She could do this. Wilson returned the smile with his own prize winning one and stood up.

"Thank you, James." Cuddy said, pulling herself forward and resting her arms on the desk once again.

"Just remember, you have House," he said with a slight smirk. "And when he pisses you off, you always have me." He a grinned at her as she let out a small chuckle and left the room.

Cuddy shook her head, still smiling, and looked back down at the month's figures. If she concentrated, she could make it done before Alex's bedtime.

__

Cuddy smiled in triumph as she closed the last file. It had taken just over thirty minutes to complete once Wilson had left. His words had comforted her enough to put everything to the back of her mind and concentrate on her job. If he hadn't turned up and said what he did then there was no doubt in her mind that she would still be struggling to prioritise her thoughts.

Walking to the door, Cuddy grabbed her jacket and purse and left the room, locking the door behind her. She had made her way across the dark clinic then out through the lobby. It was still fairly light outside as she left the confines of the hospital and walked to her car. As she drew closer, she looked through her purse for her keys.

"Lisa."

Cuddy froze at the sound of her name and slowly looked up. To her left was Michael who had just gotten out of his navy Jag. The slamming of the car door behind him brought her out of her trance. Taking a deep breath, she continued walking to her car, intent on ignoring the figure that was now walking towards her, his hands out in front of him.

"Lisa, please. I just want to talk." He said, his voice calm.

"There's nothing to say." She replied, conveying an air of confidence that she was in no way feeling. She pressed the button on her key fob that would unlock her car door and moved to open the door as quickly as possible. She jumped as the door was closed before she even had a chance to open it wide enough for her to get in.

"I need to talk to you. I need you to listen to me. _Please_." His voice was soft and she knew exactly what was coming. With Wilson's words ringing in her ears, she took in a breath and turned to face her harasser.

Michael let out the breath he had been holding and Cuddy took in his appearance. There were fading bruises on his eyes and another one on the left side of his jaw. His lip was split and bruised and on the bridge of his nose, right between his eyes was another cut. She looked down as Michael lowered his hand from behind her and she noticed the bandage on his hand. A fist fight after he smashed a window with his fist must be painful. She shook the concern from her mind and glared up at him. Looking at his injuries, in that moment she was disappointed they weren't more severe, and she would never admit that to House. He was dressed in his suit and she assumed he had come straight from work, waiting out in hospital car park until she left. She wondered what he would have done if House had been with her.

Her heart was pounding as Michael seemed satisfied enough that she wasn't going to run away, and took a small step back.

"Thank you." He whispered and it took everything she had, not to let the softness of his voice and the vulnerability in his eyes break down the walls she was struggling so hard to keep up.

"Speak so I can go home." She told him, fire in her eyes as well as her eyes.

"House's apartment isn't your home," he said softly, making a grab for her hands. She pulled them away and folded her arms across her chest, a bored expression on her face despite her heart beating at seventy miles per hour. "Your home is with me. You, me and Alex."

Cuddy shook her head. "No. My _house_ is where you are currently out living your welcome. My _home_ is my son is. Now if you don't mind…"

She turned from him and attempted to pull the car door open again but, like before, Michael's hand came from behind he and pushed it closed again.

"Please. I just want to talk. I got home today and found divorce papers waiting for me." He placed his hand on her shoulder and attempted to turn her around but she shrugged his hand from her and eventually turned to look at him. He really was a sight for sore eyes and she ignored the pang of something deep in her chest.

"What are you struggling to understand?" She asked him, speaking as though she were talking to a small child. He frowned slightly and she bit back a smirk as he wiped the expression from his face. "Well, let me spell it out to you. I. Want. A. Divorce. I don't know why it took so long to see it before." She put a hand to her face and rubbed her eyes. After a moment of silence she spoke again. "You're a pathetic, weak excuse for a man and it may have taken me a while to get out of this marriage but it's better late than never."

His eyes flickered to the bruise on her face before looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Lisa." He lifted his eyes and met her icy glare. "I never meant to hurt you. Really," he assured her when she snorted in wry amusement. "I was just – "

"You were just _what_, Michael? Stressed? Tired? Insecure? Whatever the reason, it's over. I've finally seen sense and I want you _gone._ I'm going home now."

She turned away from him once more and opened the door, this time succeeding in getting into the driver's seat, however, he stopped her from closing the door behind her by dropping to his knees, his body between her and the door. He grabbed her left hand, nursing it between his own.

"Please don't leave me, Lisa. I love you and I love Alex. I know I screwed up and I know I hurt you but please…please…don't leave me." He threw his head forward and sobbed into her lap. He was still speaking but the majority of his words were muffled. She could make out the odd "sorry," "love" and "stay." Words that he had uttered before and had meant something to her and nothing to him. She could feel his tears seeping through her skirt and onto her skin and eventually she pushed his head back. He looked up at her, tears still falling and he took a deep shuddery breath as he wiped his nose on his suit jacket.

"Please. Stay with me." He begged. "I'll see someone, go to anger management, talk to a Psychiatrist, anything you want, just please don't leave me." He locked gazes with her. "I love you."

Cuddy stared back at him as he spoke. His words so familiar and despite the fact that they were no doubt as false as they were when he first used them, there was a small part of her that wanted to believe him. She shook her head and pulled hand from his vice like grip as he took another shuddering breath.

"I've heard it all before, Michael." She told him, her voice soft. "I do love you – "He smiled and she shook her head, holding her hand up in front of her to stop him from speaking. "_But_ you are not the same man I married. You physically and verbally abused me." The sadness in her eyes matched his. "I'm stronger than that. I run a hospital for God's sake. I can look after myself and Alex, without you." And with that she reached out for the door handle and attempted to close the door. His body was in the way and he stood up, legs and hands trembling, and shuffled back, allowing her to close the door.

When the door closed, Cuddy let out a deep breath and started the engine. Her hands were shaking as she put the car into gear and pulled out of her parking spot. She took a deep breath and looked in her rear view mirror. Michael was still there, looking after the car, looking like she had just kicked his puppy. Her eyes went back to the view in front of her as she joined the main road to House's apartment and she wiped away a single tear that had fallen onto her cheek. She concentrated on the road, refusing to let any more tears fall for her failed marriage.

__

House was holding the TV remote up in the air and pulled it back suddenly when Alex made a grab for it. He smirked as the small boy tried and failed to pull on his arm to bring the control closer.

"Daddy, this is boring." Alex said making another attempt to grab the remote control from his father's outstretched hand. "Mommy lets me watch 'Ben 10'."

"Mommy's not here." House replied, mocking the five year old's voice and pulling the remote away again.

"Daddyyyyyyyyyy!" Alex whined, jumping on the couch in what House recognised to be the beginning of a tantrum.

"Okay, okay," House said, giving in and handing the remote to Alex who grinned and jumped into a sitting position beside his dad. Once 'Ben 10' was on the screen, Alex looked up at House with a grin and then turned back to the TV screen. House stood smiling at the top of Alex's head. He'd been played. By a five year old. His grin grew wider as he made his way into the kitchen, pride surging through his body. He glanced at his watch before opening up the fridge for some dinner. Alex had already eaten yesterday's leftovers and House had hoped that Cuddy would be back soon to cook him something. He let out a sigh as everything in his refrigerator required cooking. He turned to his cupboards and after a bit of rooting around, found some instant noodles and, taking them out of the packet in to a bowl and pouring over some water. House put the bowl in the microwave and waited impatiently. Just then, he heard the excited shout of a small child and rolled his eyes.

"Typical," he muttered as the microwave announced it was done. He took out the bowl, grabbed a fork and headed to the living room where Cuddy was leaning over the back of the sofa, placing a kiss to the top of Alex's head.

"You couldn't get back four minutes ago?" He asked dryly, sitting down. "I was hoping you could cook me a proper meal…" He trailed off as Cuddy turned and walked down the hall to the bathroom without a word to him.

Placing the bowl on the coffee table, he followed her as quickly as possible and stood out side the now closed bathroom door.

"Cuddy." He knocked on the door. "Cuddy, I need to drain the main vein." He said with a smirk when there was no answer.

Cuddy was leaning against the bathroom door and let out a sigh when she heard his comment. She needed time to just pull herself together. After Michael's emotional ambush, she was drained and she needed to gather her thoughts before slipping in to her usual routine with House.

"Cuddy."

She let out a small groan and pushed herself from the door. "I'm going to have a shower, House."

"Need any help?"

She smiled slightly and shook her head. "If I need you, I'll be sure to let you know." She called back, her voice laden with sarcasm. Cuddy heard a short chuckle and smiled again. Maybe the banter was the best thing right now, something that allowed her to forget everything that was going on around her. She headed towards the bath and turned on the taps for the shower, undressing while the water warmed up and the stepping under the warm spray. Instantly, she felt the muscles in her neck relax and she hoped the water was as good at washing away thoughts of Michael as it was at the tension he brought.

__

House walked away from the bathroom door and went back to finish his dinner. Alex was completely absorbed in his TV programme and a quick glance at the time told House he had ten more minutes of it before he could put him to bed and talk to Cuddy about what her problem was. He ate his meal silently, staring at the cartoon on the screen, trying not to get into it. He didn't need another kids show to be part of his lonely TV entertainment. He let his mind wander to the situation they were currently in and he looked down at Alex as what Cuddy told him earlier sunk in. He heard the water in the bathroom stop running and he put his now empty bowl on the table as the credits for 'Ben 10' started rolling and placed a hand on Alex's head.

"Show's over, kiddo. Time for bed." He told him and shook his head when Alex looked up with him a pout, his bottom lip trembling. "Don't even think about trying to play me again. It won't work second time round."

Alex frowned, his face now conveying a defiant look, his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm not tired." Alex told him turning back to the screen.

"Okay," House shrugged and looked at the TV as well. Alex looked at him confused. Getting out of going to bed had never been that easy but as House continued to watch the television, a small triumphant smile spread across his face.

"It is not okay." House smirked at Alex's reaction to Cuddy's voice. He had heard her moving about behind them and figured she could deal with the bedtime fall out. He turned to look at Alex who seemed to be considering his options; fight of flight.

"When you're told to do something, Alex, you do it." She rounded the sofa and held her hand out to him. "Now, bed." She pulled him to his feet and together they walked to House's bedroom. Alex turned back, poking his tongue out at House who mimicked him with a smirk.

"Night, Daddy." Alex said with a smile.

"Night, Alex."

Half an hour later, House awoke with a start as Cuddy sat down on the couch beside him pushing some loose hair from her face.

"He 'sleep?" House mumbled, running a hand over his eyes trying to shake of the groggy feeling a nap usually brings.

"Mmhmm." Cuddy nodded, pulling her feet up beneath her, a bowl of steaming pasta sat on her lap.

House sniffed the air and attempted to grab the fork from Cuddy's bowl as she settled down. Cuddy caught him in time and slapped his hand away, pulling her bowl out of his reach.

"Oh come on. You could have made some for me." He tried to reach for the bowl again and let out a groan when she pulled it away again.

"The ingredients came from _your_ kitchen. You could have made it yourself." She told him, keeping the bowl away from him as she speared some pasta onto her fork.

There was silence for a moment as Cuddy ate and House flicked through the TV channels.

"Michael was waiting for me today." Cuddy said quietly staring at the screen.

House switched off the set and slowly turned to face her. He watched her silently trying to figure out what she was thinking. From the way she said it, he couldn't figure out whether it was a good thing or a bad thing in her eyes.

"He begged didn't he? You're going to go back to him." House shook his head at her. "I can't believe you gave into it. Again. You're going alone, Cuddy. Alex is not going anywhere near him – "

"House. Shut up." Cuddy placed her bowl on the table and turned to look at him. "I'm not going back to him." She saw his shoulders relax and in turn let out a deep breath.

"What happened?" He was thinking back to his last conversation with Michael and he was pretty sure he issued a warning…

"He did what he always did, begged. And cried…" She said, huffing in amusement. "He said that he would get help and see someone…" House let out a snort of amusement. "Go to anger management classes…"

"His usual pathetic display I'm guessing." House asked. He was watching her profile as she stared at the blank screen in front of her. She nodded and House turned to look at the TV screen too. He debated turning it on when Cuddy spoke again.

"Would you have let me go if it had worked?" she asked quietly. She wasn't sure what answer she was after and no doubt she would realize as soon as she heard what he had to say.

House was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. When she had told him about the times he had begged before, he expected that he as going to try the same tactics - they had worked after all - and he was sure that he would have talked Cuddy out of doing anything stupid but when she told him that he had begged again...his primary concern had been for Alex. He was certain though that as soon as she tried to leave he would have stopped her.

"No." He said quietly with a small shake of his head. He turned to look at her and found she was already watching him intently. "I know you're about as good at listening to me as I am to you but I would have tried." His eyes darted off somewhere behind her before he met her gaze again. "And if reasoning failed, I would have guilt tripped you into not going back." He said, pointing to the marks on his face he had incurred while fighting for her. He smiled as she let out a small laugh at what he said.

"Would you have gone back if I wasn't involved?" House asked her, watching her intently so as not to miss a single flicker of emotion that might show on her face.

Cuddy thought for a moment. She'd done it three times before. When did you make the decision to leave?

_If you ever got to make it._

She had seen plenty of domestic violence cases in both the clinic and the ER and often felt helpless as she watched the patients leave with their partners, often wondering if she would see them again and if their injuries would be considerably worse next time. She thought back to when Michael broke her wrist. The staff in the walk in clinic in Trenton had the same look in their eyes as she had when she had come across similar cases and she had vowed then never to be in that situation again. Despite that, she went back to him. He worked his 'magic' and she was putty in his hands.

She turned to look at him, sadness in her eyes. "I don't know."


	7. Chapter 7

So there were quite a few messages in my inbox the past few days and I figured I should post this now rather than later (I would have done it this morning but I had to pick up my stuff from halls). I'm still surprised that, despite my lack of updates, you're all still interested, so thank you. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long but don't hold me to it. All I can promise is that I'll try.

* * *

"Doctor Cuddy!"

Cuddy turned as her name was called and let out a sigh as she saw it was yet another Nurse that wanted her to sign something. She glanced at her watch as she made her way to the woman to scan the chart held before her and signed off on it. She had been getting ready to pick up Alex from school when there had been a knock at her door and a patient walked in complaining about a doctor that surprisingly wasn't House.

"Thank you."

Cuddy gave a brief smile to the woman and then continued making her way to the main hospital doors, her head down hoping that nobody else would stop her.

By the time she reached the main doors, someone was walking in step beside her and the lack of paperwork caused her to raise an eyebrow at the man walking beside her out of the hospital.

"Let me guess," she started not bothering to look at Wilson as they made their way to the parking lot. "House sent you." She gave him a sideways glance and could see him begin to turn red.

"Is it that obvious?" He chuckled at Cuddy's expression and made his way to the passenger side of her car. "House's patient crashed. He asked me to go with you."

Cuddy let out a sigh. "How long is this 'Alpha Male' thing going to go on for?" She asked, unlocking the doors.

"With House? Never." Wilson smiled at her over the top of the car. "It's a good thing."

"Cuddy was about to get into the drivers seat when his words stopped her. "And how do you work that out?" She asked, sceptically.

"Because it means he cares." He gave her a moment to let her process what he said before speaking up again. "Shouldn't we be going?" he smiled.

* * *

As Cuddy pulled up outside the school, Wilson checked his watch after noticing that the school was practically deserted except a few other late parents.

"Where is he?" Wilson asked looking towards the doors.

"I told him that if I was ever late he should wait for me outside his classroom." Cuddy replied, opening the door. "You don't need to come with me, Wilson." She told him as he went to undo his seat belt. "I'll be five minutes." She reassured him, slamming the door behind her. Wilson watched her run up to the entrance and disappear through the double doors. He turned his attention to her car stereo and searched through the stations finally setting on some power ballad.

Several songs later, Cuddy and Alex still hadn't emerged from the building and Wilson was trying his best not to worry. He switched off the radio and as he reached over to take the keys from the ignition, he rationalised to himself that Alex was probably just showing her what he had done that day and going in would give him a chance to see some of Alex's work. He got out of the car and headed to the entrance. As he entered the school, he realised that although he'd picked Alex up from school plenty of times before, he had no idea where his classroom was. Just as he made a decision to go down the left hand corridor, he heard a set of heels from behind him. He turned and saw a teary and panicked Cuddy with a flustered looking man in tow.

Wilson hurried towards her, feeling the panic bubble up inside him fighting to surface. Cuddy practically threw herself into him once he was within reach.

"What the hell's going on?" He addressed the man as Cuddy sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder. He rubbed her back and glared at the man stood in front of him who was now pulling awkwardly at his tie.

The man cleared his throat. "It would appear that Mr Johnson collected Alex today…His teacher was completely unaware of the situation between Doctor Cuddy and her husband," he added quickly seeing the fire rage in Wilson's eyes. "And Alex seemed more than happy to go with him…"

"Sshh, Lisa. We'll find him. Have you called the police?" He felt her head move up and down and the man in front of him confirmed her answer.

"I phoned them myself as soon as Doctor Cuddy informed me of the situation. As principal – "

"When are they getting here?" Wilson interrupted.

Cuddy pulled back and took a deep breath, trying her best to fight off more tears. She took a deep breath but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, all that escaped was a choked sob and Wilson pulled her in once more.

"They said a car was on it's way. I'll wait outside for them." The principal hurried through the doors, relieved to be out of the steely glare of Doctor Cuddy's acquaintance.

Wilson did his best to comfort Cuddy, his arms wrapped around her shoulders and hers around his middle as she continued to cry in the deserted hallway.

* * *

"We'll send cars straight over to these addresses and put this picture out. The best thing you can do now is go home and wait for us to contact you." The female officer, Swanson, placed a reassuring hand on Cuddy's shoulder. "We'll do our best to find your son." And with that, she left the room, her partner, West, in tow.

Cuddy, Wilson and principal Mayer were sat in the latter's office, Cuddy slumped against Wilson's side.

"Come on." Wilson got to his feet, pulling Cuddy up with him. "Let's get you home." Wilson placed an arm around her and led her to the office door.

"Again, I'm really sorry this has happened…" Mayer piped up, solemnly.

Wilson ignored the man, his main concern being calm around Cuddy.

"House," Cuddy muttered once Wilson had pulled the door to the passenger side open and helped Cuddy inside.

He gave a nod. "I'll call him now." How the hell had he forgotten House?

"Tell him we've gone to look for Alex." Cuddy told him, stopping him from closing the door.

Wilson shook his head. "You heard Officer Swanson. You need to go home and wait for them – "

"I am NOT waiting around doing nothing while that…lunatic…has my son." Cuddy stated, wiping the tears away from her face and trying to get out of the car.

Wilson blocked her in. "Cuddy, you're in no fit state to drive anywhere and where would you even begin to look? The police are already looking in all the places you could think of." He crouched down to look her in the eye. "I'll call House and he can meet us back at his place. Then we can discuss the best course of action."

Cuddy nodded solemnly, her eyes watering but she held back the tears and settled in the car. Wilson stood up and closed the door, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. He retrieved the last dialled number and hit send, walking around to the driver's side with his phone to his ear.

"Where the hell are you? I have a patient with suspected parotic cancer."

"House."

"What?"

"Alex is missing…"

There was silence on the other end of the phone and Wilson had to check that he was still connected.

"House?"

There was a deep intake of breath from the end of the line.

"Michael was seen collecting him. I'm taking Cuddy back to your apartment – "

"I'll meet you there." And with that, House hung up the phone.

Wilson took a deep breath, exhaling softly as he pocketed his phone. He got in the car and started the engine. After a moments silence, he placed a hand on Cuddy's knee which she seemed oblivious to as she stared out of the passenger side window, scrutinising the faces of the people she could see. Wilson let out a sigh as he continued to make his way to House's apartment.

* * *

Once House had hung up, he paged Foreman to meet him in the lobby and then made his way down there as quickly as possible, cursing that he had let Cuddy drive her car to work this morning.

"What is it, House?" Foreman asked tiredly. "Wilson's still not back and Taub's trying to biopsy – "

"I need you to take me home." House stated, making his way to the doors.

"House, we have a pa – "

"JUST DO IT!" House shouted, causing everyone in the lobby to turn their attention to him.

Foreman eyed him curiously for a moment before nodding. "Let's go."

House led the way to the car park but dropped back when he realised he didn't know which car was his employee's. Foreman made his way over to a black Audi, unlocking the doors, with a bleep while trying to figure out what could be wrong. The pair got in the car and Foreman started the engine, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

"What, no jokes about Hummers or blacked out windows or spinning rims?" Foreman asked, a smirk on his face.

House pulled his bottle of Vicodin from his pocket and poured two into his left palm. He replaced the bottle and stared down at the pills in his hand as his right hand rubbed his thigh. He wasn't sure if he actually needed the pills or if he was reacting to the news but either way, he tipped his head back and threw the pills into his mouth.

"I'd prefer it," House started, pausing to swallow the pills, "if you drove like you were being chased by the feds."

Foreman let out an amused snort and sped up slightly. "Is this something to do with the cuts and bruises on your face?"

House looked at his reflection in the wing mirror. The bruises had faded considerably and the cuts were healing, some bruising on his body still bothered him but he had had Wilson do an x-ray for him at the beginning of the week to rule out any broken ribs. He turned to look back out of the windscreen, ignoring Foreman's question.

"If I wanted to enjoy the scenery, I would have walked." He replied, annoyance clear in his voice. "Now go faster." He looked over at the speedometer. "You're barely doing 30…"

"I'm doing 35, House. In a 30 miles per hour zone. The choices are you get home as quickly as I can drive you, I get pulled over by the cops or we die. It's completely up to you." Foreman answered, speeding up slightly to beat a red light.

House nodded slightly and turned to look out of the window. "Just drive." He said softly, staring at the people they passed along the way.

As soon as Foreman turned into House's street, House undid his seat belt and only just waited for the car to come to a complete stop before opening the door.

"House." Foreman called as he too got out of the car, leaning on the roof of it. House continued walking, glancing back to show he was listening. "I hope everything's ok…"

House turned as he reached the door to his apartment complex and looked at Foreman. Not being one for words, he nodded in thanks and continued into the building as Foreman got back in his car and made his way back to the hospital.

"Thank God. I was about to call you." Wilson said as House let himself into the apartment.

"Where's Cuddy?" House asked.

"In the bathroom. Wait…what are you doing?" Wilson's eyes narrowed in confusion as House made his way to the bathroom.

"Cuddy!" House shouted, banging on the bathroom door. He stood back as the door opened and Cuddy stood in the doorway. Her eyes were red and watery and when she saw House, she wrapped her arms around him feeling the tears surfacing again.

House allowed her to hug him for a moment, his hands by his side and his posture stiff, before pushing her away.

"Come on." He told her, limping away from her and heading towards his closet. As Cuddy and Wilson shared confused looks, he opened the door and reached in, pulling out his motorcycle helmet. Wilson frowned as realisation dawned on him and he quickly made his way to stand between House and the front door.

"Move."

Wilson shook his head. "You're not going anywhere, House. The police are out looking for – "

House clenched his jaw and let out a snarl. "Get out of the way, Wilson. Cuddy, come on."

House took a step towards the door but Wilson stood firm. Behind him, House could hear Cuddy's footsteps as she made her way to stand next to him. "Either you move, or I make you move."

Wilson stood firm. He looked into Cuddy's eyes, seeing a new strength in them now that House was here and ready to do what she had wanted to earlier.

"What do you expect to come from going out there, on your bike and looking in random places? Cuddy already gave the police a list of places and they're checking them as we speak. When they've got news – "

"Dammit, Wilson." House exclaimed angrily. "I don't give a shit what the police are doing. I'm going out there and I'm going to find my son and kill the bastard that took him…" He looked down at his cane as a hand settled over his own then looked up into Cuddy's face.

"…our son." Cuddy corrected, looking back at him. They let their gazes linger for a moment before Cuddy turned to address Wilson. "We've got to go, Wilson. I can't just sit here waiting for the police to turn up. I _need_ to do something…" She took a deep breath as her voice began to get shaky. "So unless you want House to show you a new place to store his cane, I suggest you move."

Wilson rubbed his forehead knowing that he was fighting a losing battle. He wished he could go out there and drive around looking for Alex. Go to the exact place where Michael and Alex were and give Michael another beating for putting them all through this. He looked up at House and Cuddy and let out a loud sigh.

"Okay," he muttered, standing aside. "I'll…I'll wait for the police…" He watched as the pair walked to the door. "Take your car, House. If you find him, three of you aren't going to fit on that damn bike." Wilson said tiredly, reaching out and pulling the helmet from his House's hands and then moving to the sofa to sit down, sighing once more as the door closed behind them.

* * *

Cuddy closed the door behind her and turned, walking straight into House's back.

"House. What…" She moved around him to see Michael letting himself into the apartment complex holding Alex's hand.

"Mommy!" Alex ran over to her and she crouched down, letting him jump into her. She buried her face into his neck and inhaled as tears made their way down her cheeks.

House was oblivious to what was going on behind him. He was too busy staring at the man before him, fire raging in his eyes. As Michael walked into the building to close the door behind him, House moved as swiftly, ignoring his leg, and pushed Michael against the wall, his cane pressed up against the man's throat.

"You son of a bitch!" House hissed in his face. He pushed his cane harder causing the man to choke, holding .

"What the…Alex." As soon as Wilson had heard the commotion in the hallway he had moved quickly to see what was happening and as he opened the door, he didn't know what shocked him more; Alex, currently being squeezed by Cuddy or House choking Michael with his cane.

Alex wriggled impatiently, and Cuddy drew back to look Alex in the face. "Michael took me for ice cream." He told her innocently and Cuddy could feel another sob fighting to escape. She held back however when she finally noticed what House was doing to Michael, the latter's face turning red as House hissed random curse words at him. She stood up and placed a hand to Alex's back, pushing him towards Wilson.

"James, can you take him inside?" She asked, wiping her face and feeling a sudden surge of anger.

Wilson bent down and picked Alex up, holding the back of his head so that he couldn't turn it, and backed into the apartment. "Maybe you should come inside too…" he suggested. He wasn't going to let House kill the bastard but he was going to make him suffer for a bit. When Cuddy didn't move, he put Alex down and directed him towards the TV before joining House and Cuddy back in the foyer, closing the door to behind him.

Michael clawed at the cane against at his throat, eyes wide and a pleading look in his eyes as he looked at Cuddy. "L…Li…Lisa." He managed to choke out. "Ple..Please…" He gasped.

House pushed harder, causing the man to rise further up the wall. "Wilson, take them inside." He said without turning around.

"House." Cuddy placed a hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off.

"In about," House paused as though in thought before continuing, "thirty seconds, you're going to pass out from lack of oxygen to the brain the, if I keep pushing…well, I'm sure you know." He spoke through gritted teeth as rage blazed in his eyes.

Cuddy could see the panic building up in Michael's eyes as she attempted, once again, to get House to let him go. As much as she would like Michael to suffer, she didn't want House to suffer the repercussions.

Suddenly, the apartment building door opened and Cuddy and Wilson watched helplessly as Officers West and Swanson entered the building and immediately rushed to the aid of Michael, dragging House away from him. House's cane clattered to the ground as the two police officers managed to push him against the wall with his hands behind his back. Swanson walked towards Michael, while West kept House pressed against the wall, and crouched down to where he was slumped, gasping for breath.

"Are you okay, sir?" She asked, placing a hand on his shoulder as she looked into his eyes.

Michael continued to gasp as House started shouting his objection to the officer's concern.

"That son of a bitch kidnapped my son!" House continued to struggle against the officer still pressing him against the wall.

"Sir," West said from behind him, "please calm down."

"I'll calm down when you get the fuck off me!"

"House," Wilson started. "Calm dow – "

"Sir," West interrupted him. "If you don't calm down, we're going to have to arrest you."

Swanson stood up straight from her spot in front of Michael and turned to face Cuddy.

"Is your son okay?" She asked, wanting to get this cleared up as quickly as possible.

Cuddy nodded. "He seems to be." Her eyes went over the woman's shoulder to see House still struggling against the large, muscular police officer. "Does he really need to be restrained?" Cuddy asked, looking back at Swanson again. "He's Alex's father. He was just reacting to the situation."

Swanson gave a curt nod. "I understand that but we walked in on him attacking a fellow civilian. We'll have to carry out an investigation – "

"Please, Officer Swanson, House was worried about his son. He thought he had been kidnapped…" Wilson joined in, trying to come to House's defence.

House had stopped struggling as a burning pain shot through his thigh. All the struggling and being pushed up against the wall had forced the cut through the Vicodin he had taken earlier and he was in dire need of a seat.

Michael had risen to his feet during everything and was keeping an eye on everything going on around him. He hadn't planned on nearly dying but he had been hoping to cause some trouble. It was time to get the police onside.

"Officer," he stated, gaining all the attention of everyone in the hallway. "You can let him go. I don't think anyone wants anymore trouble today." He said with his prize winning smile. He turned to face Cuddy and took a step towards her. Wilson took a step forward and he backed off again. "Lisa, I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was scare you. I missed Alex…" He paused before speaking softly. "I miss you…" He ignored Wilson's glare and continued. "I thought that as I used to pick him up, it wouldn't matter. I left a message with your assistant…She said she would pass it on…obviously she forgot."

House, who had been released from his hold but was being kept away from the rest of the group by West's arm, was watching Cuddy's face during Michael's speech.

"You're not actually going to listen to him are you?" He asked, not taking his eyes off Cuddy.

Cuddy bit her lip avoiding House's intense glare. She shook her head and was about to speak when Michael interrupted.

"I swear to you, Lisa. I didn't mean to cause any trouble." He turned to address Officer Swanson. "I don't want charges pressed against Greg –"

"Don't." House said warningly.

Michael ignored him and continued. "It was just a…misunderstanding. Can we just forget everything that happened here?"

West and Swanson exchanged glances before West spoke up.

"We witnessed this man choking you. We can't just turn a blind eye to that. We have to gather statements – "

"None of that's necessary," Michael interrupted. His eyes flickered to House before addressing West once more. "We were arguing and…I made the first move. Greg here was just acting in self defence."

House narrowed his eyes at the man as he spoke. Why was he trying to get rid of the police? If they hadn't turned up, he would have happily killed the bastard and then had Wilson get rid of the body. House watched as the two officers listened to what Michael was saying and his brow furrowed deeper as Swanson and West exchanged glances and nods.

"If this is true, I see no reason why we need to take it any further…" Swanson looked to Cuddy and Wilson for confirmation. They both hesitated before nodding and then looked pleadingly at House as Swanson and West looked for confirmation from him.

Just as House was about to tell them what really happened, he noticed the look on Cuddy's face and faltered. Only a few days earlier, she had refused to go to the police in order to save him and here he was about to undo all of that.

He gave a small nod, looking anywhere but at Cuddy. "Yes." He said softly. "It's true." His eyes landed on Michael and the smirk he had on his face behind the police officers who were seemingly convinced. House made a fist and clenched his jaw, attempting to stay clam.

"Well, then," West took a step toward Michael. "I suggest you and Doctor Cuddy come to some kind of amiable agreement about the care of the child so that this…misunderstanding doesn't occur again." He nodded at Swanson and they both left the building, closing the door behind you.

House went to take a step towards Michael, who still had a smirk on his face, but Cuddy stood between them.

"Go inside, House." She told him firmly.

He glared continued to glare at Michael before he looked down at Cuddy stood in front of him. "He's up to something, Cuddy."

"I think _you_," he pointed at Michael, "should leave. And the three of us," he turned back to House and Cuddy, "should go back inside. No doubt Alex has his ear to the door…"

House gave a slight nod, picked up his cane and he and Cuddy followed Wilson into his apartment.

"Lisa, wait." Michael grabbed a hold of her wrist to stop her from entering House's home.

Cuddy turned to look at him and shook her head. "Sign the papers and leave us alone."

Michael's face dropped but he still refused to let her go. "Please."

"Let go of her before I really do kill you this time." House warned.

"I just want to talk to –"

House shook his head and walked towards him. "No. Now let. Go."

Michael continued to look at Cuddy with a pleading look in his eyes.

"It's okay, House. Go inside." She said softly, not taking her eyes from the man that was still holding onto her wrist.

"Cuddy," House's voice warned. When she didn't move he looked between the two and moved to lean against the wall, bending his right leg against it and crossing his arms against his chest.

"Then I stay." He said simply.

"I just want to speak to my wife _alone_." Michael said, turning to look at House.

"Not gonna happen. So talk."

Cuddy met House's eyes. "It's fine. Just go inside and sit with Alex – "

"Wilson's in there."

"Go." She turned to Michael. "You, let go of me and go over there." She waved in the direction of the staircase with her free hand. Michael did as he was told and then looked at House, waiting for him to go inside.

Cuddy and House's eyes met once again. House moved and opened the door. "I'll be standing right there." He pointed to the floor right next to the door to make his point before disappearing inside.

Cuddy took a deep breath and turned back to Michael who had now taken a seat on the steps. It was a power play. By sitting down, he was making her seem like she was in control of the situation. She could tower over him and walk away if she wanted to. She knew he was trying to play her and she stored it in the forefront of her mind so she wouldn't get suckered in by his words.

"Now talk." She told him sternly.


	8. Chapter 8

I was hoping to have this up last week but things have been getting in the way. From friends' birthdays to driving lessons and even a dislocated knee (yep, mine. Turns out drinking 'til you can't stand up without help is a bad idea. Who knew?). As well as getting stuff ready to move back to uni next month. I can't make any promises for the next chapter but I know what's gonna happen so it shouldn't take as long as this did.

Thanks for the reviews and everything and sticking with me. Again, I know nothing about US law and everything here came from looking through law sites.

* * *

Michael just sat and stared at her for a few moments as though trying to figure out what to say before he stood up. When Cuddy took a step back and shot him a glare he hung his head and took his seat on the steps once more.

"I miss you, Lisa. You and Alex. It's so quiet around the house and…" He looked up at her and noticed the frown marring her features. "I keep thinking over that weekend…and it makes me sick."

"You and me both." Cuddy said with more venom in her tone than she felt.

Michael nodded. "I promised you that I would never lay a finger on you in anger again but I did and I hate myself for it." He took a deep breath as his voice started to shake.

"I have no excuses for behaving the way I did – do. I didn't have a disruptive childhood. My dad was the best husband my mum could have asked for and he would turn in his grave if he knew how I was treating you. I wasn't bullied at school…"

Cuddy watched him as his head dropped to watch his hands resting in his lap. Her anger was currently battling with her feeling of sympathy as she looked at the top of his head. He had hit her – more than once – and she was feeling sorry for _him_? She shook her head. No, she wasn't going to let him in to manipulate her anymore than he already had.

"I'm not interested in your justifications," Cuddy said causing Michael to look up. "Just…sign the divorce papers so we can all move on." She turned away from him and moved back to the door but stopped when she heard his voice.

"I need you." Cuddy tensed as she sensed movement behind her. "I love you and I need you." Michael placed a hand on her arm and turned her to face him, looking into her eyes. "Please, just give me one more chance."

He moved his hand up to her face caressing her cheek briefly before moving his fingers to tangle in her hair, his thumb caressing the skin in her temple.

"Please." His voice was hoarse and his eyes glistened with tears as Cuddy looked up into them. "Just one more chance."

Cuddy could feel tears welling up in her own eyes. She married this man because she loved him. She closed her eyes as a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek before shaking her head.

Opening her eyes, she pulled away from him. "No. I won't keep putting myself through this. I deserve better."

"He's better?" Michael asked incredulously. "We're good together. I love you and I can tell you still love me. I can make this better…"

"You need to leave, Michael. I just need to call him," she pointed to the door before continuing, "and he'll be out here trying to kill you. Again."

"Please – "

Cuddy took a step back, interrupting him. "Just sign the papers and move on. Get some help so that you don't put someone else through this pain." And with that Cuddy turned the door handle and disappeared inside the apartment, leaving Michael stood pitifully in the hall.

__

"What's for dinner?" House asked as soon as Cuddy walked through the door. He had listened to their entire conversation and heard nothing that he felt he needed to quiz her on.

Wilson turned from his place next to Alex on the couch and threw a glare at his friend.

"Is he going to sign the papers?" He asked, turning to regard Cuddy.

"I don't know." Cuddy sighed and moved round the couch to sit beside Alex.

House watched as she sat down and moved her arm around the young boy who instantly moved closer while still watching television.

"What did Marcus say about it?" He asked as he moved to sit in the arm chair by the sofa.

"We'll have to go to court," Cuddy replied not taking her eyes off the top of Alex's head as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Wilson looked at House to gauge his reaction to this new piece of information. When nothing else was said between the two of them, he checked the time on his watch and stood up.

"I should get back to the hospital. There're some appointments that I need to re-schedule and patients - want to check on before I go home. See ya kiddo." He said as he held his hand out, palm up, in front of Alex who looked up at him and smiled broadly before bringing his hand down onto Wilson's.

"Bye uncle James."

Cuddy looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you for everything, James."

"No problem." He grabbed his jacket from the back of the couch and looked towards House who was still had his eyes on Cuddy and Alex. When the older man said nothing in way of thanks he spoke up. "See you tomorrow, House."

House looked up at Wilson who was now standing with the door open looking back at him. He gave the oncologist a slight nod before turning back to the pair on the couch and returning to his thoughts.

It was some time later when Alex stated he was hungry that House and Cuddy snapped out of the dark thoughts thta had pagued them since they realised Michael had taken their son.

__

"Where're you going?"

Cuddy jumped as House appeared to come out of no where just as she was leaving her office.

"Do you have to creep around like that?" She asked.

"The cane makes creeping up on people a little hard don't you think." He stated facetiously. Cuddy rolled her eyes at his comment and continued walking.

House followed her not letting up. He had no idea where she was going but he knew that wherever it was he'd be going with her.

"House," Cuddy said stopping just outside the clinic's doors and turning to face him. House nearly walked right into her and the pair were now standing in their most common position; toe to toe. "Your clinic hours started fifteen minutes ago. Go finish them." She began to walk to the main hospital doors again and sighed when she heard the repetitve thud of his cane from behind her and realised that he was going to be going with her whether she liked it or not.

"It's too early to pick up Alex." He said looking at his watch. Although he wouldn't blame her if she wanted to wait outside after everything that had happened th"So are you gonna tell me where're we going?" House asked nonchalantly as though he hadn't just invited himself along.

Cuddy let out a sigh and got in her car, waiting for him to join her before starting the car and pulling out of her spot.

"Marcus called. He still hasn't received the papers so I'm - or we're - going over there now to discuss what happens next."

She spared him a quick glance to gauge hid reaction before turning her attention back to the road.

House was silent for a moment, mulling over this new piece of information.

He didn't know what other options were available other than going to Cuddy's place and beating the crap out of him until he agreed to sign the papers and leave for good. After what happened the last time though, he figured wading in there fists first probably wouldn't help Cuddy no matter how much of a good idea it seemed.

"What are the other options?" He asked after a while.

Cuddy gave him another glance as she turned on to the exit ramp leading to Marcus' office. "That's why Marcus asked me to go and see him, so we can _discuss_ things." She said in a 'duh' tone.

House rolled his eyes at her blatant sarcasm and rolled his cane between his palms as he looked down at his feet. He'd assumed that Marcus had given her more information over the phone. He had finished with a patient and was grabbing a new chart when he looked into her office and saw her on the phone, exasperation evident in her demeanor. He had then watched as she hung up and rose from her desk, grabbing her jacket from her coat stand and discussing something with her assistant. Just the fact that she hadn't noticed him watching her and then appear beside her told him that there was something more to this.

"What did Marcus say when you spoke to him?" House asked.

Cuddy bit her lip and continued to concentrate on the road. She wasn't sure why she was choosing to tell him. He was going to find out once they got to their destination.

She let out a sigh and turned into the road on which her friend's law firm stood, looking for a parking space. Once she was parked not too far away from the building, she turned to face House before speaking.

"Marcus said something about how I might have to go to court and getting a judge involved." She didn't wait for his response and instead got out of the car and waited for him to follow suit so she could lock the doors behind him.

After he had done so, Cuddy walked the ten or so meters to the doors of the office building and walked inside, holding the door open behind her for House to catch up.

They walked into a vast lobby and was greeted by a young man sat at a large semi circular desk.

"Can I help you?" He asked with a smile on his face.

Cuddy returned the smile and answered. "We're here to see Marcus Fitz. I'm Lisa Cuddy and this is Greg House."

"Doctor." House interjected. "And can I just say how refreshing it is to see a male receptionist. You don't see many nowadays." He said with an incincere smile, flinching slightly when Cuddy slapped in him on the arm.

"Shut. Up." She warned.

The receptionist gave a thin lipped smile to the scruffy man stood before him and turned to address Cuddy. "Doctor Cuddy. Mr Fitz is expecting you. Please go straight up." He pointed across the lobby to the the elevators that would take them up to Marcus' floor. "The thirty ninth floor."

"Thank you." Cuddy smiled at young man and pushed House towards the elevator.

Once they were inside and Cuddy had pressed the button for Marcus' floor, house studied her profile. Looking at the nervousness on her face. He didn't understand why she was trying to avoid hearing his opinion on the idea of having to go to court. In his mind, that was the only other option to get the divorce. He was certain a judge would immediately grant the divorce and then state that Michael had just wasted his time.

They stepped out into another lobby, this one had small offices with glass walls along the left hand side and in the middle of the room were about a dozen desks almost all of which currently occupied by people reading through notes or typing up information. A woman exited one of the offices, laden with files and she made her way to the photocopier in the far corner of the lobby. Cuddy made her way down to the last desk where another young man was sitting currently typing at his computer. He looked up as House and Cuddy approached him and gave them a smile.

"Doctor Cuddy. Mr Fitz is on the phone right now but he said to send you straight in." He stood and led them down to a set of double doors not too far from where he was working.

Once they reached Marcus' office, the tall man knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter.

"Come in!"

He opened the door and ushered the pair inside offering an incincere smile to House as he passed him. Marcus was sitting at his desk with his phone cradled against his ear and scribbling something in a notepad in front of him. He looked up briefly, slightly surprised to see House, and gestured for them to sit while he mouthed a quick apology before speaking down the phone.

"Well, I'm going to need that evidence by this evening so I can go over it by tomorrow...If he is hiding some of his income then I _need_ that evidence today...Okay then...yes...I have to go now, Mrs Dawson, my next client has arrived. Goodbye." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

"You look like you need to get laid." House said as he looked at the exhaustion on the other man's face.

"Is that an offer?" Marcus replied with a smirk.

"You seem to have enough men working with you. Surely one fo them will do some nasty things for a pay rise. That's what she does," he pointed to Cuddy, "when she's in stressed out."

"House!" Cuddy exclaimed.

"So that's why you're the best paid doctor in that hospital."

"Marcus!"

House and Marcus exchanged smirks at Cuddy's anger as well as their at their jokes.

Cuddy let out a sigh as the two men seemed to completely forget that she was in the room and joke about her imaginary sex life woith House.

"How about we discuss what we came here for."

With a smile still on his face, Marcus flicked through his notepad until he found the page he was looking for while House leaned back in his chair smirking at the exasperated look on Cuddy's face.

Marcus looked up a small smile on his lips as he got down to business. "As I said on the phone, I think we're gonna have to get a judge to oversee things."

"How will that work?" Cuddy asked.

"It'll be a case of us meeting with him and his lawyer and talking things out in front of a judge."

"Why bother?" Both Marcus and Cuddy looked at House, confused expressions on their faces. He continued. "I'll go round there this evening and sort the whole thing out. He'll have some fresh injuries but the papers will be signed."

"House, if you don't have anything constructive to say shut up." Cuddy hissed while Marcus gave him a smirk.

"Get those gladiator fantasies out of your head and stop picturing me naked." House told Marcus ignoring what Cuddy was saying.

Marcus opened his mouth to reply when a glare from Cuddy made him look down avoiding looking at either of them.

"As much as Greg carrying out alpha male heroics is a huge turn on," he looked up, "I think we should stick to the law when it comes to these kinds of things."

"Do you have to humour him all the time?" Cuddy asked him regretting not trying to slip out of the ER exit to avoid House tagging along.

"Relax, Lisa." Marcus looked her in the eye with a smile on his face. "The judge will already be in our side. This is something that can be sorted between us with the judge finalising everything. Whoever we get will be pissed that they have to be involved for the whole process. _And_ if he's as unwilling to resolve this as he has been so far then it will definitely work in our favour."

"What if he doesn't turn up?" House asked after the trio were silent for a little while.

"That will depend on if he gets a lawyer or not. If he does then they might ask to reschedule or continue without him. If he doesn't then the judge may grant the divorce without hearing from him."

House and Marcus watched Cuddy as she worried her lower lip between her teeth. She avoided their gazes knowing what they were doing. Marcus was waiting for a decision to get everything going while House was studying her.

Why did Michael have to be so difficult? She understood that he still loved her and didn't want to let her go but hanging on and refusing to some kind of agreement was childish, especially when he was at fault. If it wasn't for his temper and paranoia then she had no doubt that they would still be together.

House was scrutinizing her carefully looking for anything thay would give away her thought process. The silence alone was enough to make him question her and the fact that they had spoken about whether or not she still had feelings for Michael was fresh in his mind.

"What is taking you so long?" He finally asked, the silence agitating him. He turned to address Marcus. "She'll go to court."

Marcus turned back to Cuddy who still seemed to be in two minds about everything. "The choice is yours, Lisa."

Cuddy looked back at her friend and the pair locked gazes. He was letting her know that not only was it her choice but he would be there with her no matter what that choice was. She turned to face House who seemed to be getting annoyed that Cuddy was taking so long to confirm what he had said and that Marcus had completely disregarded him.

"Just tell him so we can get this sorted out." He told her.

Cuddy shook her head. "I...need some time to think about it. Is that okay?" She asked Marcus ignoring House obvious outrage.

He nodded. "Take as long as you need. The choice needs to be yours."

"How is this not easy for you?" House asked, standing from his seat. "Do I really need to remind you that he hit you? More than once. Broke your wrist, got in your head and kidnapped our son." House moved towards Cuddy and bent down, placing his hands on the arm rests on either side of her and turning her to face him.

"Tell him to start court proceedings." He hissed.

"Greg." Marcus warned as he got out of his seat and made his way round the desk to the pair who had now locked gazes.

When House had first bent down to fac her she had flinched internally before remembering that she and House had gone head to head many times before and the only difference this time was that it was peronal rather than work related. She sat straighter in her seat and looked him square in the eye. House wouldn't physically hurt her and everyone in the room knew that but they all knew that he had a way with words that could hurt just as much as a slap in the face.

"I've said that I'm going to think about it." She told him slowly, his glare doing nothing but making her angry. "Now move so I can go and pick Alex up."

Marcus watched from the side as the pair of doctors in front of him continued to stare eachother out until House finally stood and took a few steps back.

"Keys." House said simply, holding his hand out to her.

Cuddy shook her head and stood up. "If you want to leave then fine, wait by the car for me but I'm not giving you the keys."

They continued to stare a little longer until Marcus cleared his throat and moved to stand behind his desk once more.

"This," he said handing her some papers out to her' "outlines the process of dealing with a judge throughout the whole process of divorce and these," he handed some more papers to her, throwing a quick glance to House as he moved towards the door, "are your ammended divoce papers."

Cuddy took the documents from him and looked down at them while Marcus moved back round the desk to stand in front of her.

"Ignore him." He said in a low voice placing a hand on her shoulder encouraging her too look up at him. "Whatever you decide we'll both still be here."

The pair shared a smile and Cuddy gave him a small nod before standing straighter to place a kiss on his cheek.

"I'll call you." She told him. "And remember, you still need to see Alex."

Marcus turned away from her and exageratedly showed her the paperwork on his desk. Cuddy smiled at the smilarities to her own as he turned back to face her.

"I'll try."

House cleared his throat causing Cuddy and Marcus to look at him before looking back at each other.

"Go take him to McDonalds or something." Marcus said with a laugh. "He's cranky so you should let him sleep too."

"Like he doesn't do enough of that at the hospital already." She turned to House was glaring at the pair of them and smirked at his expression as she walked towards him. "Come on," she placed her hand on his chest giving it a slight tap. "We'll feed you once we pick Alex up."

"You're paying." He told her sulkily as they walked through the door.

"Of course I am." Cuddy rolled her eyes at him as she turned to look back at Marcus who was laughing to himself before moving back round to sit at his desk.

__

Cuddy was sat on House's sofa making the most of the alone time she had while House dealt with putting Alex to bed. Judging from the sounds coming from the bedroom, she knew she would have to intervene in a moment and shout at House for getting Alex excitable instead of putting him straight to bed.

For now, she was more than happy sat in the leather sofa, her feet curled beneath her, looking over the papers Marcus had given her earlier that day with a hot cup of tea nestled in her hands. Since they had left Marcus' office, Cuddy had spent most of the time thinking about what she was going to do about Michael. House hadn't spoken about it since his earlier outburst but whenever she had looked at the oapers in his presence, he shot her look reminding her exactly what he thought about the situation.

There was less noise coming from the bedroom now and she relaxed knowing that House was more responsible than she sometimes gave him credit for. She brought her mug of tea to her lips and continued to read the papers in front of her when her cell phone started ringing. She quickly unfurled herself and placed the items she was holding on the coffee table before snatching the phone up from it's place on the end table.

Noticing that it was a withheld number, she furrowed her brow then quickly answered when she heard fussing coming from the bedroom down the hall.

"Hello?"

"Lisa."

Cuddy tensed as the familiar voice spoke to her.

"Don't hang up. I just need you to listen to me. Please."

"Why are you making things so difficult, Michael?" She whispered down the phone, looking over her shoulder to make sure she was still alone. "Marcus is talking about taking the proceedings in front of a judge and I just want this over with as quickly as possible. I have other things to be dealing with. I don't need this."

She was feeling calm and collected and most importantly in control. This man was nothing to fear and although sje still felt something for him, she knew that he would be getting no more chances.

There was silence from the other end of the line and Cuddy was about to hang up when she heard him sigh.

"If you really want this...then I'll sign the papers."

Cuddy felt the tension release from her shoulders as he finally agreed.

"Good. Thank you. Just move on with - "

"On one condition." He interrupted.

"You need to speak tou your lawyer if you went to make conditions," she told him, her voice conveting the control she was feeling.

"I'm sure whatever's in the papers are fine but I'm not going to sign them until I _know_ this is what you want."

Cuddy looked over her shoulder as confusion was once more evident on her face.

"How many times do I need to tell you?" She hissed at him. She was in no mood now to play any of his games. She knew she should just hang up on him but a part of her felt she was making progress with him and she didn't want to give that up. Not now they were so close.

"No, not like this. I want to see it in your eyes that what we have is over. That you no longer feel anything for me."

"And what happened a few days ago wasn't enough for you?" She asked incredulously. She was certain that not only did her words convey her feelings about their marriage but her demeanor did too.

"No it's not. I wasn't looking for it before. I need to _see_ it. You can even bring Marcus or James with you if you want. And we can meet somewhere in public."

Everything in Cuddy was screaming at her to say no, hang up and call Marcus to tell him to make the necessary arrangements and yet she wasn't listening. She was actually thinking about it.

"Who's that on the phone?"

The voice behind her made her jump and she quickly turned to see a tired House limping to the kitchen.

"The hospital." She said simply. House simply nodded and continued towards the kitchen. Unless there was a case, the hospital held no interest for him.

Cuddy waited until she heard the sound of the tap running and a glass being filled before turning her attention to the phone still by her ear.

"Sunday. Ten AM. I'll meet you in Starbucks."

"Thank y - "

Cuddy didn't wait for him to thank her and hung up before slumping back into the sofa feeling exhausted. House came back out with a beer and settled into the couch beside her. He put his feet up on the coffee table, deliberately putting his feet up on the papers Cuddy had placed there and reached for the remote.

He turned to Cuddy when he realised he hadn't gotten a reaction from her and scrutinised her face. Her eyes were closed and she seemed exhausted. He nudged her with his elbow and turned back to the TV screen when she turned to glare at him.

"What's up with you?" He asked finally settling on some wrestling.

Cuddy shook her head and pushed herself to the edge of her seat. "Just tired. I thibk I might go to bed." She replied standing.

Hhouse glanced at the time on his DVD player and frowned, it's only quarter to nine."

"I know but I'm tired and I have an early meeting tomorrow. That means *you* need to be up and get Alex ready for school in the morning." She said as she gathered her things and moved round the back of the couch to place them in her briefcase.

House mumbled something under his breath but Cuddy ignored him and picked up her mug to take to the kitchen.

"If I find out he was late to school tomorrow morning," she continued once she was back in the same room as him, "you'll be doing six more clinic hours this week."

"But it's Friday tomorrow. I'll be in the clinic all day." He said tilting his head back to look at her stood directly behind him.

"I know." She said with a grin. "Goodnight House." She turned from him and began walking down the hallway to the bathroom.

"Goodnight Cuddy."

Once she was in the safety of the bathroom the grin disappeared from her face as the realization of what she was keeping from House hit her.

__

Wilson briefly looked up as someone walked into his office without knocking before returning to the files in front of him.

"Are you busy?" Cuddy asked as she sat down in the chair across from him.

Wilson looked up with a raised eyebrow then looked down at the various files spread out across his desk. Cuddy also looked down and let out a sigh before standing.

"Sorry. I'll - "

"Lisa it's fine." He told her leaning back in his chair and motioning for her to sit back down. He placed his pen on the desk and took the opportunity to rub his tired eyes. "What's the problem?"

Cuddy looked down at her hands in her lap for a moment then looked up at Wilson.

"Michael called me last night." She said simply watching her friend's face for his reaction.

"What?" Wilson moved forward in his chair unsure if he had heard what had just been said. "Michael called you?"

Cuddy nodded. She hadn't planned on telling Wilson but when her work started suffering and Marcus was in meetings all day she had no other choice but to talk to Wilson.

"What did he want?" He asked leaning on the desk and watching her carefully.

"He said he'll sign the papers..."

"Really? Wow. That's great." Wilson wanted to relax but he knew something was coming. He leaned back in his chair and waited. "But..." He prompted when she remained silent.

Cuddy took a deep breath. "He wants to meet me before he signs the papers..."

Wilson's jaw dripped in shock. He raised a hand to his face and rubbed at his eyes. He knew what was coming next.

"You agreed didn't you." It was more of a statement than a question but she nodded anyway.

Wilson let a soft sigh and closed his eyes briefly tilting his head back slightly.

"Oh God." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "House doesn't know does he?" When Cuddy shook her head he let out a groan and let his head fall back.

"You can't tell him. He'll only want to come with me."

"Someone's going with you. If it's not him then it's me." Wilson told her firmly.

"That's why I came to tell you. I was hoping you'd come with me. House doesn't think rationally about these things, you do. I'll tell House once Michael's signed the papers."

Wilson was silent for a moment before nodding. She was right. If House knew then he would either stop her and prevent the papers from being signed or go and end up trying to kill Cuddy's ex and the paperrs still wouldn't get signed.

"When is it?"

"Sunday at ten."

Wilson sighed then nodded. "I'll pick you up."

"Thank you, James. You're a good friend." They shared a smile before Cuddy pushed herself out of her seat.

"Are you okay?" Wilson asked, jumping out of his chair when he saw Cuddy sway slightly.

She clutched her head as he noved around the desk to support her.

"Er...yeah. I just stood up too quickly." Cuddy took a few deep breaths before looking up and giving Wilson a reassuring smile. "I feel fine now. Really."

She moved towards the door as Wilson eyed her curiously.

"Don't look at me like that." She told him turning to face him. "It's like House is in the room with us."

He huffed out in amusement as she left the room.

__

Cuddy was in her office bathroom, perched on the edge of the closed toilet seat and took a deep breath as she looked at the stick resting on the sink in front of her. The dizzy spell in Wilson's office earlier that day had been the start of many and that, teamed with the fact that her period was a week and a half late prompted her to do the test.

She placed her hands on her thighs and pushed herself up, taking a tentative step to the sink and picking up the pregnancy test.

_Positive._

Maybe it wouldn't be so easy to keep Michael out of her life after all.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry about the wait (again). I just haven't been in the mood to write AT ALL. Writer's block has been so bad that i just started to get fed up with it all and I've been having serious problems with House's character in this kind of situation so a House/Wilson conversation has been skipped in this chapter. Things have changed now though (except the OOC paranoia) and I'm on a roll. It looks like there is only one chapter left after this and possibly an epilogue (maybe, haven't decided yet). Hope you like this chapter - kind of seems like a filler looking at it now - and, as always, thanks for the reviews and sticking with it.**

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Cuddy made her way to her office in a daze. She hadn't planned to do any work on a Saturday, she had told House that she was needed at the hospital, but she didn't feel like going back to House's apartment just yet. Once she let herself in, she locked the door behind her leaving the blinds drawn and moved to lie on her couch in the corner of the room.

Once the shock of seeing the positive test yesterday had subsided a little, she had called to arrange an appointment with Doctor Guerrier to confirm what she had discovered. Guerrier had overseen her pregnancy with Alex and had understood the need to keep things completely private and low key, especially after House had turned up at one of her appointments.

Her grip on the pieces of paper in her hand tightened as she squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to hold back the tears that had threatened to fall since the previous afternoon. How was having this baby going to make divorcing Michael any easier? How was she meant to sit with him tomorrow knowing that his child was inside her? How was she going to get rid of him for good?

After a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes and brought the papers in front of her face. The first was a prescription for pre-natal vitamins which she placed on the coffee table beside her, and the second was a fuzzy picture of the seven week foetus currently in her womb. She sat up and swung her legs round, staring at the picture. Everything had appeared so much easier the last time. House had agreed, taken part in the tests, donated and not long after, Guerrier was confirming that she was in fact pregnant.

This time, Michael was involved. Before they had married, they had spoken about having kids together and she was more than happy to have another child especially with him. They had even spoken to Alex about a little brother or sister and now...he was about to get one. Cuddy sat staring at the picture, unsure whether she was happy or saddened by the new part to her life. Yes she had wanted a child with Michael but not now. She had even been relieved, once she'd left, that she hadn't had his child. It would have made the whole thing even more difficult than it was.

"But here you are." Cuddy whispered rubbing her belly while staring at the scan.

She leaned back on the couch and rubbed her temples feeling a strong headache forming. She had known for less than twenty four hours and she was still having problems processing the news, how was House going to react when she told him?

______

Before Cuddy entered House's apartment building, she could hear the noise coming from within and let out a sigh. As much as she loved the fact House had fun with Alex and the pair had the relationship she never thought they would have, the way House managed to lead the boy astray was tiring. She had discovered that staying with House often meant looking after two children.

_Soon to be three._

Bracing herself, she placed the key in the lock and turned the knob letting herself in to find Alex sat on House's lap with his guitar. She smiled at the sight but flinched as House strummed and the sound came out of the amp sitting beside them, adding to the pain that was still pounding inside her head.

Both House and Alex knew she was there but Alex was completely focused on making his fingers stretch to hold down the strings his dad was showing him while House just chose to ignore her presence for now.

Once Alex managed to play the chord, with a little help from House, he turned his head to look at Cuddy.

"Did you hear that?" He asked with a smile on his face.

Cuddy smiled back at him. "Uh huh." She nodded walking over to him to run a hand through his hair and placing a kiss on the top of his head before heading off to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

The sound of the guitar continued as she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. She drained half the contents then poured the rest down the sink, rinsing it out and placing it on the draining board. She gripped the counter with both hands and let her head drop taking a few deep breaths when House's voice from behind her startled her.

"You're going to have to get him his own guitar now." He said looking at her curiously. He had noticed she was behaving oddly the night before and he had put it down to the fact that she still hadn't told Marcus what she was going to do. He had told her to stop being an idiot and do what she needed to do before turning on the TV and completely ignoring her for the rest of the night.

"No," Cuddy said, turning to face him, "_you're_ going to have to get him his own guitar and keep it here." She told him.

House gave her a small smile, leaning against the door frame as he continued to watch her. She looked tired and stressed and her posture was slightly slouched, a far cry from her usual domineering, 'woman in charge' stance.

The intensity of House's gaze was off putting and she attempted to stand a little straighter before making a move to the door way to walk past him. She jumped slightly when he swung his cane out and jammed it against the frame to stop her.

"What?" She glared at him, watching as a frown appeared on his features and she knew that she would have to tell him the news now before he found out for himself and reacted even worse than she had already envisioned.

Cuddy let out a sigh. "We need to talk." When he showed no signs of moving his arm, she looked pointedly into the living room where the noise of the guitar could still be heard. "Bedroom."

Had something not obviously been up, he would have made a joke about her wanting to go to the bedroom but while the phrase 'we need to talk' instilled fear in most people House was either curious or not interested. In this case it was the former. Reluctantly, House moved his arm and followed her down the hallway and into his bedroom. He stood by the doorway and watched as Cuddy slowly turned to face him, her eyes however, looking anywhere than directly at him.

"Sit down." She said, trying to sound calmer than she actually felt.

House didn't respond or even acknowledge that he heard her and she let out a sigh knowing that this was going to be as difficult as she envisioned.

"I'm pregnant." She said quickly, figuring the 'band aid' technique would be best. The quicker the better. She glanced at him to gauge his reaction.

House's jaw dropped as he stared at Cuddy. She could not just have said what he thought she said.

Cuddy took a step towards him and placed a hand on his bicep. "House?" She questioned. She knew that it was going to be a shock but she figured they would be knee deep in an argument about whether or not she kept the baby right now.

"House?"

House closed his mouth again, attempting to relieve it of it's current dryness. When that didn't work he opened his mouth as if to say something then closed it again as he gathered his thoughts.

He wanted to tell her to get rid of it, it was a feotus and what did it matter if that bastard's kid never saw the light of day. He knew that wasn't going to fly with Cuddy though but being House, he couldn't care less. He could easily gear himself up for an argument.

"Get rid of it."

Cuddy removed her hand from his arm and sighed. "I'm not getting rid of it, House."

"How is keeping it gonna do anyone, any good?" House asked taking a step back from her. "You're trying to get a divorce from that..." he paused before throwing his left arm out, pointing at her stomach, "thing's dad. What happened to 'getting him out of our lives for good'?"

"It's not a 'thing' House." She placed a protective hand over her stomach. "I don't care what you think, this is my _child_, House. And I am going to love him or her as much as I do Alex."

House placed his free hand over his eyes and rubbed them. He would never understand her logic. Getting rid of the thing that could possibly keep that asshole on her radar was the best thing she could do and he was seething at the fact that she couldn't understand that.

"House, I didn't tell you because I wanted your advice on what to do. I told you because I felt that, after everything that we've been through, you deserved to know." House opened his mouth to argue with her but Cuddy held out a hand to silence him, shaking her head firmly. "No, House. This is my decision. I respect you and, although I don't agree with them, your opinions but when it comes to my child, my choices, I will not let you belittle them." She took a deep breath and turned away from him slightly.

"You may not like or understand it but I need you to respect the fact that I have decided to keep this child." Cuddy moved closer, placing herself right in front of him. "Please?" She said softly.

House looked into her eyes, his fave completely void of emotion. He didn't like her decision and he definitely didn't understand it and he had _no_ intentions of respecting her for it. He turned on his heel and left the room, grabbing his leather jacket from the closet and his keys off the desk. Alex was still engrossed in strumming loudly at the guitar when he passed him. He ruffled his hair quickly before heading through the front door. He needed time to think.

Cuddy was making her way out of the bedroom when she heard the front door slam shut. She knew he wasn't going to take to the idea but she was hoping it wouldn't result in him riding for hours and then ending up in some bar.

She headed towards the living room and let out a sigh. "Time to put that away now, Alex." She told the boy, as she walked around the sofa and unplugged the guitar from the amp.

"But -"

"But nothing." She told him firmly as she lifted the guitar from his grasp and placed it into the guitar case on the coffee table. "Go and get the book you're supposed to read and you can read to me. I just need to make a phonecall first."

"Ok." Alex nodded and walked towards the closet to get his school bag out whil Cuddy headed to the kitchen to get her cellphone from her purse.

Cuddy scrolled through her numbers then pressed dial and held the phone up to her ear. After a few rings, Wilson's voice greeted her.

"Hey, is everything ok?"

Cuddy smiled softly at Wilson's concern. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" She asked instead of answering him right away. Its not as if Wilson just sat around on his days off waiting for one of his friends to need him.

"I was just about to play some tennis...it can wait though. What did you need?"

"I'm pregnant." She figured using the same tactics with Wilson would have better results.

Her statement was met by silence.

"James?"

"Um...yeah. I mean..." He let out a low sigh and ran his hand up his face into his hair. "Wow. That's...That's big, Lisa."

"I know," Cuddy replied, her response almost inaudible. "I just told House."

"Aah. And he didn't take it well." Wilson deduced.

"He told me to get rid of it. I told him no and he walked out. I don't where he's gone."

"Don't worry. He's probably on his way to my apartment now. Have you tried calling him?"

"I figured I'm the last person he wants to talk to." She told him.

"Right. Well, don't worry. I'll find him and talk to him. And...congratulations, Lisa."

"Thank you."

"I'll let you know when I find him."

"Thanks, James. Bye."

"Bye."

Cuddy hung up with a relieved sigh. Sometimes the only way to deal with House was to have Wilson deal with him.

"Mooooom!"

Cuddy snapped out of her reverie and moved to the kitchen doorway. Alex was sat, looking in her direction and holding hid book in the air.

"Ok," she told him, moving towards the couch and placing her cellphone on the side table. She sat down next to her son, placed an arm around him and pulled him close as he began to read to her. This, she thought, is why she could never get rid of her unborn child.

_____

"Where're you going?" Wilson spun around at the sound of a familiar voice.

"House. I was just coming to look for you." Wilson said, taking a step towards the older man.

House figured that Cuddy would call Wilson to look for him. "I guessed. I knew you were here. Came to sit and mock - I mean watch. Sit and watch." He said with a smirk.

"Let's go some -"

"Just play your damn game. I wanna see if anyone else looks as gay as you do in their tennis outfit." House smirked and walked away towards the courts, his motorcycle helmet in his left hand and leaning heavily on the cane in his right.

He didn't want to talk right away. The only reason he turned up was so that he knew where Wilson was and wouldn't have to worry about him interrupting his thoughts. This way, he could think and mock Wilson at the same time. If nothing useful came from the former, at least the latter would cheer him up a little.

_____

Cuddy was sitting in Wilson's car, staring out of the window, heading to the coffee place where she was to meet Michael. Wilson glanced at her as she cluthced her divorce papers to her stomach. He knew what that part was like except he was usually the one being sent them.

When House had come back home some time in the evening, he had said nothing to her, sat down on the couch, taken the remote from her hand and switched to the wrestling. They had sat side by side for the rest of the night, in silence and Cuddy had assumed that his conversation with Wilson had resulted in this non-verbal 'acceptance' to the situation. And Wilson hadn't told her anything that they had spoken about either.

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" Wilson asked, seeing the far away look upon her face.

Cuddy simply nodded and continued to look out of the window.

Wilson turned his attention back to the road ahead. When he had spoken to House he had 'agreed' to take Cuddy somewhere the next day to talk to her. He knew House didn't know that he was already taking Cuddy out and he definitely didn't know that he was taking her to see Michael.

They continued the rest of the journey in silence and Cuddy was glad to get away from Wilson's constant glances wheb they arrived at the coffee shop. Although she wasn't too happy about sitting across from the man that used to hit her, at least Wilson would be too busy glaring at him than looking at her in sympathy.

She waited for Wilson to walk around the other side of the car and the pair walked together into the coffee shop. Michael was already there sitting in a corner at the back at a table for two. She could tell when he suggested that she bring someone with her that he wasn't actually expecting her to.

Cuddy walked towards him, her posture the same as if she were stalking the hallways of the hospital for House, with Wilson close behind her walking as equally tall.

She stood at the table casting a shadow over the man sitting there causing him to look up. Now that she was closer she could see that he had let himself go.

"Lisa..."

Wilson stepped out from behind her, grabbed a chair from the table next to them and placed it between Michael and Cuddy before sitting in it, leaning back and crossing his arms across his chest.

Cuddy sat in the the other chair, looking at Michael as he gave Wilson a wary glance. He really hadn't expected her to bring anyone along. She looked at his pale face, the black facial hair that he had allowed to grow and his hair unruly. His eyes were blood shot and she had a feeling that he had started drinking every night after their last meeting.

He had let himself go but she couldn't tell if it was genuine or simply done to make himself look weak and pathetic as some kind of game plan.

Cuddy got straight down to business. "Say what it is you wanted to say, sign these," she threw the envelope with the divorce papers across the table towards him sending and empty cup into his lap, "then disappear." She told him sternly. She ignored Wilson's curious look and continued to stare down the man in front of her instead.

"Do you want a coffee?" He asked looking at Cuddy then Wilson and placing the cup back on the table. They both shook their heads and he sighed, getting up anyway. "Is it ok if I get another one? I haven't been sleeping well recently."

Cuddy just shrugged in response, slightly annoyed that he was tryong to make her wait around longer than she actually had to.

When he was out of ear shot, Wilson turned to face her. "You're not telling him about the baby?" He asked.

Cuddy looked at him with a frown on her face before her features softened.

"I don't know." Cuddy looked over her shoulder as Michael moved forward in the queue to place his order. "He should know but," she turned to look back at Wilson, "I'm just not sure I want him to."

Wilson nodded. He didn't really know what else to say. Not one of his divorces had a child involved and if they had, he was pretty sure his ex wives would have told him but then abuse hadn't been on the table when he was getting divorced.

"I might tell him," Cuddy said, glancing over her shoulder to see Michael now coming back to them, "if he signs the papers and agrees to give up on 'us', I'll let him in my child's life."


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter. I wanted to get this one up before tomorrow because I'm moving into a house at uni tomorrow and I don't have the internet yet. This isn't the last chapter, I found a new way to do what I was originally going to and so the next chapter will be the last one followed by a short epilogue. Hope you enjoy this one, it's longer than the others because I couldn't stop writing the middle part and didn't want to cut it earlier than when I had in mind.**

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Michael was sat stirring his coffee as he stared across the table at Cuddy. She was sat with her arms crossed and a frown planted firmly on her face. He glanced at Wilson and saw that he was sat in very much the same way.

"Sign the papers, Michael." Cuddy was bored of waiting around. She had listened to his bullshit too many times already and now she was sat waiting for him to continue spilling the same shit? No, she was done with listening and she was definitely done with _waiting_ for him to start talking.

Michael looked back at her, his eyes widened in fear as he realised that he had to say something fast. She was now taking the papers out of the envelope, flipping to the last page then opening her purse and pulling out a pen. She pushed both towards him and sat waiting, her face void of any expression.

He leaned back slightly and pulled out a pill bottle, taking the lid off and placing a pill in his mouth before washing it down with his coffee. Cuddy tensed knowing full well what he had just done and, judging by the way Wilson had shifted slightly, he too knew what had just happened.

"Anti depressants." Michael said, holding the pill bottle up briefly then putting it back into his pocket. "Doctor prescribed them to me a few days ago."

"And you thought that by taking them in front of me would illicit some kind of emotional response." Cuddy said, knowing that, although he would deny it, it was exactly what he had been looking to do.

"What? No." Michael said leaning forward on the table, hands reaching out in attempt to hold on to Cuddy's but thinking twice when he saw Wilson shift and pull his chair closer to the table. "It's just...my doctor and therapist felt I should be on them -"

Cuddy shifted her chair back and leaned back in her chair again, keeping a good distance, and glared at him. "I know what you're doing. You think that by telling me you got help is going to make me forgive you and take you back..." His sad expression was betrayed by the slight sparkle in his eyes. "It's not going to work. This is what you do, Michael. You manipulate people to get them to do what you want to do. I'm not falling for it anymore."

"That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm sorry if that's the impression you got from that. I didn't even think about it when I took my dose." Michael said. "I just don't really know how to handle this situation. I've already messed up just by picking Alex up from school..."

Cuddy tensed. "You didn't just _pick him up from school._ I checked with my assistant, she said she didn't receive any message and if she had, she would have told me right away." She leaned forward slightly and spoke definitely. "You deliberately used my son in an attempt to get me to talk to you and used our fear of House going to jail. Both fine examples of your expert manipulation skills."

"I did not use Alex to get to you. I just wanted to see my step son, I would never have hurt him and you know that." He took a sip of his coffee and lowered the mug back to the table. "I...may have used my..._people_ skills," Cuddy snorted in wry amusement, "to deal with the police but it wasn't because I felt like you would *have* to listen to me after. I did it because I understood how House was feeling. Having something taken from your life without warning -"

Cuddy held up a hand to stop him from speaking. "You had plenty of warning after every demeaning comment and every bruise you gave me. Did you really think I was going to put up with it forever? I left the first time -"

"But you came back." Michael interrupted, hoping that she would do the same again this time.

"And I wish I hadn't. I put myself through too much and I am _never_ going to do that again." She looked right into his eyes with a steely determination that Wilson had usually seen her use in board meetings.

Wilson looked at Michael, quirking an eyebrow in interest at the man's seemingly defeated posture. His body language indicated that he was giving up but Wilson was on alert, not wanting to take anything at face value yet. At the moment he was content to sit and observe leaving Cuddy to deal with the situation until he felt he was needed to intervene. She didn't need him behaving like House and interfering during the whole meeting. He would sit, wait and observe what was going on in front of him.

Cuddy also noticed the slump of Michael's shoulders but didn't allow herself to take it as a sign of his defeat. He had spent the last week trying to manipulate her into staying and she wasn't going to let her defences drop until he signed the damn papers.

"Do you really want to end what we have?" Michael asked quietly, looking deep into her eyes.

Cuddy was silent for a moment making sure she had his full attention before answering. "Yes." She said slowly.

He couldn't deny it anymore. His wife was sat in front of him, a friend at her side for support - protection? - telling him that their marriage was over. Still making eye contact, Cuddy could see that Michael was finally accepting the situation. His eyes portrayed how much pain he was in to hear her say those words but it was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling. She had always put her job before a family until she had decided on IVF. That decision was her way of accepting the fact that she was never going to find a husband and when Alex was born fears about becoming a single mother disappeared. Meeting Michael and having things work out between them, gave her hope and now, three years down the line, it was all coming to an end because he couldn't keep his anger and insecurities in check. She just wished she could have saved herself all the heartache to begin with.

Michael looked down at the papers for a moment then stood from his seat. "If it's what you want..." He leaned over and signed the papers. "I'm so sorry." He whispered, standing straight once again and looking at her with tears in his eyes. She hated it when he cried but she didn't look away.

Cuddy still had the internal battle about whether or not to tell him about the baby. She felt he should know but she was struggling, the words getting jammed in her throat.

Michael walked round Wilson and stood next to Cuddy's chair. He bent down and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I really am sorry to lose you, Lisa." His actions and words had completely taken her by surprise and by the time she realised what had just occurred, he was already heading out of the door.

"You couldn't tell him." Wilson had seen the struggle she had had getting the words out. He was unsure if it was a good thing that he didn't know yet.

Cuddy shook her head even though she knew that Wilson was stating the obvious as opposed to asking her a question. She was silent for a moment as the realisation of the situation hit her.

He was gone.

Michael had signed the papers and that alone was a huge relief. She started to smile as Wilson continued to watch at her.

"He signed them." She said, turning to Wilson with a small smile on her face. "He actually signed them."

Wilson smiled back at her. "Yeah, he did." He was relieved that they had managed to get through it without him having to get involved in anyway and he knew Cuddy was too. "You ready to go home?" He figured that discussing Michael and the baby now would dampen her spirits.

Cuddy nodded. "I need to drop these off with Marcus first." She said, placing the papers back in the envelope and the pen in her purse.

Wilson nodded, leading the way out of the coffee shop, holding the door open for Cuddy before following her back to the car.

__

"Well?"

Wilson was sat next to House on the couch while Cuddy was in the bathroom giving Alex a bath after arriving back home to discover he was covered in paint. What she didn't know was that House let him go to town with the paints so that he could get Cuddy out of the way and speak to Wilson alone.

"'Well' what?" Wilson asked playing dumb as he continued to watch TV.

House rolled his eyes and reached for remote turning the volume up. "Did you persuade her to get rid of _it_?"

Wilson looked at him with a frown on his face. "That wasn't the point of me talking to her."

House let out a groan letting his head fall back as he rubbed his face. "Yes, it was." He said turning back to face his friend. "You just messed it all up."

"Cuddy's keeping the baby, House. No matter how much you want her to get rid of it, she won't. And I'm _not_ going to try and talk her out of it. You need to accept her decision."

House let his head fall back against the couch again and closed his eyes. He was sick of hearing that he would have to accept the fact that she had half of Michael's genes incubating inside of her. How was he supposed to visit Alex and come face to face with the new kid without feeling some sort of resentment for the fact that it's dad is the same bastard that hit it's mom? He wasn't sure he'd be able to. He wasn't sure he wanted to.

"So you didn't get any information from her?" House turned his head slightly to see Wilson shake his head.

"There was no information to get. You already know everything there is to know about this kid and what Cuddy wants to do."

"Then what was the point in even taking her out?" House asked, sitting up at the thought of a mystery. He furrowed his brow slightly scrutinising his best friend as he spoke.

Wilson turned to face House. "The point...the point was to give Cuddy a chance to talk to a friend. I was just there to...listen to her."

House raised an eyebrow growing more curious by the second due to Wilson's hesitation. Why would anyone need to hesitate when remembering what they did unless they were trying to come up with something.

"So you just sat and listened to her talk?" House asked watching for Wilson's reaction.

Wilson nodded his face void of any emotion.

"About the foetus?"

Wilson frowned slightly at House's choice of words and nodded again.

The pair was silent for a while as the entered into a staring contest. Wilson attempting to hold his ground while House was waiting for him to crack.

"Okay." House said simply and turned his attention back to the TV.

Wilson shot a confused look at the side of his friends face before being snapped out of his thoughts of House setting him up by an excited five year old jumping into his lap.

"Ooph." Wilson let out as Alex sat up straight to look him the eye.

"Mommy says you're taking me out now." He said excitedly.

Wilson looked up to see Cuddy with a pleading look on her face and he instantly knew that she was planning on telling House about her meeting today.

"I sure am." He said, putting Alex on the floor and standing up. He took Alex's jacket from Cuddy's outstretched hand knelt down to put it on him. "So, where d'you want to go? Zoo? Park?"

House continued to stare at the TV screen pretending he had no interest in the silent exchange going on between Wilson and Cuddy when in fact, he couldn't help but be intrigued. He could tell Cuddy wanted to talk to him about something and he assumed it was the same thing Wilson was avoiding talking to him about.

Cuddy waited until Wilson and Alex had left the apartment before taking a seat next to House on the sofa. She sat there in silence wondering how to broach the subject of what she was she was actually doing that morning with Wilson.

"Spit it out, Cuddy." House told her without looking at her.

She took in a deep breath before opening her mouth to speak. "I...met up with Michael this morning." House sat up straighter and turned to look at her, mouth open to speak, or shout, but Cuddy continued speaking.

"Wilson agreed to come with me but nothing happened for him to step in. He signed the papers, House." She smiled at him. She didn't think she would ever get tired of saying it especially after all the trouble she'd had getting him to sign them.

House looked away from her and shifted to the edge of the sofa, running a hand over his face. He was starting to get fed up with Cuddy trying to hide things from him. All he had done since he found out about her situation was help her and all she seemed to do was hide things.

"When are you moving back into your house?" He asked quietly.

Cuddy's jaw dropped in surprise. Of all the different ways she had seen this going, this wasn't what she had expected. "That's it? You don't want to know why I hid it from you? Or why he signed?"

"You don't seem to think I should know much so just tell me when you're moving out so I can tell Alex when I'll see him next." He stood up and turned on the spot waiting for a response. When none came, his mouth opened as though to say something more but he chose not to say anything and opted to walk around the couch into the bedroom where he knew his cell phone was.

Cuddy got up and followed him in time to catch him on the phone.

"How's the patient?" He asked the person on the other end of the line. "No, it's not like me to call and ask...maybe I'm just _really_ interested." He turned and locked gazes with Cuddy. "She's still stable? I'm coming in. There's no way you were right. If she crashes before I get there, page me." With that, he hung up and placed the phone in his pocket attempting to walk past Cuddy in the process. She stopped him and he let out a sigh. He really hated when she did that.

"My patient's stable. I kind of need to be there for -"

"No," Cuddy interrupted, "you *want* to be there for no other reason than to avoid me. Just talk to me, House." She pleaded with him.

"What do you need to talk to me for? Just give Wilson a call. He'll be back like that," he clicked his fingers, "if you say the word." He attempted to walk around her but, once again, she moved and stepped in his path. "As much as I would *love* to dance with you in my bedroom, unless you plan on getting naked, I'm just not interested."

He moved to go to her left then quickly changed direction and going to her right. He made it out of the door before a hand landed on his shoulder and Cuddy was running around him to get in his way once more.

"I do trust you, House. I trust you when it comes to a diagnosis," House rolled his eyes and made another attempt to escape that Cuddy put a stop to straight away and then continued. "I trust you to cause trouble at the hospital and make my work life a living hell. I trust you with Alex, to look after him and protect him and..." Cuddy took a step towards him and placed her hands either side of House's face. House tensed slightly at the contact before relaxing. "I trust you to, although you'll deny it, protect me, look out for me. Everything that's happened the last few weeks proves that." Without thinking, she stood up on her toes and placed a chaste kiss on his unsuspecting lips, taking them both by surprise.

Cuddy recovered quickly, lowering herself back down on to her feet. "I trust you." She said just above a whisper. "I just can't trust you to think first and then act."

"...And...the kid?" He asked hesitantly, still trying to get his thoughts together after the kiss as Cuddy lowered her hands from his face to her sides.

"I trust that you'll come to _accept_ my decision and get over whatever fears you have about this child."

Cuddy gave him a warm smile and he nodded in return before she turned on her heel and headed towards the living room, grabbing her briefcase and sitting on the sofa, spending the afternoon working while House sat beside her watching TV. Both choosing to ignore the kiss that had happened between them.

__

Wilson glanced at House who was brooding in the passenger seat beside him then looked back at the road.

"If you don't want Cuddy to leave -"

"I want Cuddy to leave."

Wilson shook his head and raised one of his hands from the steering wheel and sliced it through the air. "No, you don't. You acted like it was a burden having her and Alex -"

"Alex isn't a burden."

"No, and neither is Cuddy. You just behaved like she was. You knew she could have gone to her mother's but you said she could stay."

House rolled his eyes. "Have you met her mother? That's where Cuddy gets her annoying nature." He paused and looked up as though in thought. "Though she also gets her fun bags from her mom so it's not all bad I guess..." He mused.

Wilson furrowed his brow. "So you let her stay because you were saving her from her mother." Wilson stated more than asked.

"I let *Alex* stay to save him from his grandmother and with Alex comes Cuddy."

"Aah, but Alex has stayed alone with you a lot in the past. Why not tell Cuddy to go and stay at her mom's while Alex stays with you? I know you're not above telling someone to get out of your home."

House turned his head to look at Wilson's profile. "Because, Cuddy had just left a relationship where the guy used her like a stress ball whenever he got mad. She would never have agreed to live somewhere else while Alex was with me."

House turned back to look out of the window and silence descended on the pair as they drove to Cuddy's house. A minute or so passed before Wilson spoke up again.

"She feels safe around you and you like the fact that she feels safe with you. If you're not going to ask her to stay, why not move in with her and Alex?"

"Dumb question. Because she's _annoying_. Not every man on the planet is like you. We don't see a woman in distress and feel the need to save her."

"You did." Wilson replied with a smug smile on his face. "And, again, you like the fact that she came to you." He added before House had a chance to interrupt.

"She only came to me because Alex was with me. If he was with you, she would have gone to you." The diagnostician said with a sigh. "Now will you shut up."

Wilson just shook his head, his smile still in place, as House dismissed him. He pulled the car into Cuddy's empty driveway and shut off the engine before opening the door to get out.

House had already swung his legs round when he spoke. "She kissed me yesterday." He pushed himself up using his cane as quickly as possible and swinging the door shut behind him.

The oncologist was stunned momentarily, one leg outside the car while rest of his body remained inside. He saw House walking up the steps to the front door and pulling out the front door key and quickly got out of the car and locked it behind him.

"She kissed you?" Wilson asked, following House inside Cuddy's dark home.

"Yup," House replied, heading for the bedroom. He knew Wilson would follow him and so wasn't surprised when he heard footsteps behind him. "Why Jimmy," he said turning around, "I'm just not that kind of guy. You have to buy me lunch first." He gave him a smirk before heading to his original destination.

"I did."

"So you did," he opened the door to Cuddy's bedroom and noticed it was empty. "I'm still not putting out though."

While House checked the closet, Wilson stood leaning against the door frame, determined to get some more information from his friend.

"Why did she kiss you?" Wilson asked, arms folded as he watched House close the closet door again.

"His clothes are gone." House replied as he headed to the bathroom. "Looks like his toothbrush has gone too."

"House." Wilson stepped aside as House tried to get past him to look around the rest of the house. "You wouldn't have given up that piece of information if you didn't want to talk about it."

"He's gone." House concluded as he finished his inspection of the house and walked to the front door, his annoying friend following him.

"That much was obvious when you said his clothes were gone. And the fact he didn't run out at us. Are we going to talk about Cuddy?" He asked, unlocking the car with the button on the key and walking towards the driver's side as House locked the door behind them.

He didn't say anything until he got in the car and Wilson had reversed out of the driveway.

"She wants me to spend the night when she moves back in." He said nonchalantly.

The car swerved a bit when Wilson heard him and it was a minute or two before the oncologist spoke.

"'Spend the night'?" He began slowly taking a quick glance at House and then turning back to the road. "As in, spend the night or _spend the night_?" He asked, placing more emphasis on the second part.

House sighed and rolled his eyes. "As in 'spend the night in case the nasty scary man comes back." He said, his tone mimicking that of a person speaking to a young child or baby.

"So what you're saying is that she asked you to stay because she thinks it'll be _safer_ with you there?" Wilson asked with a sense of smug satisfaction as one of his earlier theorieswas proven by the person that had originally denied it.

"Wipe that damn smile off your face." House told him realising what he had just done. "She asked me because she figured I'd kick the guy's ass again if he turned up."

"Therefore feeling _safe_ with you around?" Wilson couldn't help but grin wider at his friend, looking at him as they drew up to a red light.

House scowled at him before turning away and looking out the window.

He knew Wilson was right. Cuddy did rely on him and feel safe around him. He felt like he had to meet her high standards and constantly had to remind himself that he didn't meet people's standards unless they were low because that's what worked for him. The only standards he had no problems meeting were that of being the 'cool dad' and as long as he had his bike, that was too easy, he smiled slightly to himself.

As House continued to stare at the streets passing by, vaguely listening to Wilson talk about a new nurse, he came to the conclusion that after Cuddy changed the locks and he had spent the night he had promised, he was going to run, metaphorically, from her. He needed her to expect a lot less from him so he could concentrate on the 'cool dad' part.

__

"That's the locks sorted." Cuddy said walking into the living room and putting her purse on the end table next to the sofa. House was sat with his feet up while Alex was on the floor, both seemingly engrossed in "Cars" which was currently on the screen in front of them.

"You know you could have just given me the seventy bucks and Wilson would've changed your locks." House said as Cuddy flopped down on the opposite end of the couch to him.

"How nice of you." Cuddy replied dryly. "It's always reassuring to know yourMO of getting paid to do nothing while others do the work extends outside the hospital too."

House turned his head, keeping it against the back of the sofa, to see her grinning at him and he gave her a mock smile before rolling his head back to watch the film once more, hiding the smirk on his face at her retort.

Cuddy smiled at his expression and remembered something in her purse. "Before I forget…" She reached over for it and sat it on her lap as she pulled out the keys to her new lock. "Here." She said taking one off the chain and handing it to House.

House hadn't really been concentrating on what she was saying until he heard the keys hitting one another when he turned to look at her. His eyes moved instantly to her outstretched hand with the key in it and then moved to her face, his mouth open slightly unsure of what was going on.

"What do I need a key for?" He finally asked, not moving to take it from her.

Cuddy frowned in confusion. "I thought you'd jump at the chance to have a key to my home. That way you don't have to break in or steal the key I leave outside."

"I don't need it." House said casually turning away from her and towards the TV once more.

"I just thought – "

"Doesn't matter," House interrupted, not looking at her, "Don't need it."

Cuddy put the key back on the ring and in her purse before getting up. "Okay." She told him, putting her bag on the table. "I'm going to make a start on dinner." With that she left the room and House let out a long sigh.

Cuddy was glad to get out of the room. House could be so infuriating. Sometimes he seemed like a decent human being and other times he was…House. She didn't know why she was handing House a key, she just figured it would be easier for when he wanted to see Alex but maybe offering him a key wasn't the best idea. Before she got married, she had problems keeping House out. She'd even had problems keeping him out after she was married. Offering him a way in would mean she wouldn't be able to get rid of him. She sighed wondering why she even embarrassed herself by proposing he take a key. If he wanted to see Alex, he could just call or turn up like he usually did. Cuddy rubbed a hand over her face in exasperation before busying herself with pots and pans as she set about making dinner.

House spent the next ten minutes debating whether or not to stay or get up and talk to her. He didn't want to and even told himself the day before that he was going to distance himself from her. He let out a huff of air as he stood up and made his way to the kitchen.

He stood, leaning against the door for a while watching her wondering whether or not to speak or go back to the living room when Cuddy turned round gasping at his sudden appearance.

"I get that a lot." He smirked at her.

"Because you sneak around like a creepy old man." Cuddy retorted composing herself and getting what she needed from the fridge.

House couldn't hide his smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest and watched her.

"That's creepy too, House." Cuddy said after a few moments. "What do you want?"

House shifted slightly before answering. "Why do you want me to have a key?"

She stilled her movements momentarily. "I don't want you to have a key."

"You just tried – " House replied incredulously.

Cuddy whirled round to face him. "_I don't want you to have a key._" She spat. This was ridiculous. They were behaving like a couple that thought they were at a new stage in their relationship. She let a slight laugh escape her. In a way, they were at a new stage in their relationship.

_Why did I have to kiss him?_

"What?" House asked quirking an eyebrow and snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Nothing."

He just shrugged before he went back to his original line of questioning. "So why did you want to give me the key. Okay," he said quickly before she interrupted him, "why _did_ you want me to have a key to this place? It has nothing to do with seeing Alex. I can call or just turn up like I usually do. Why do – did – I need a key?"

"It was just a thought, House. A stupid one. Now drop it." She knew that wasn't going to work on him. He never let anything drop and she hated that about him.

"Come on, Cuddy. You're holding out on me."

Cuddy started grumbling and House could make out words like "cane," "shove" and "ass" and he couldn't help smirking. The past events may have taken a strange turn but he couldn't hide the fact that he loved getting her mad.

"All you have to do is tell me and I'll drop the subject." He told her with a smug grin.

Cuddy was about to dismiss him once more and tell him that it no longer mattered when she decided on another option, turning to face him and looking him straight in the eye.

"I don't exactly want you around when I start dating again. Giving you a key is practically inviting you to interrupt them."

House's mouth was gaping at her answer before he recovered and gave her a response. "Way to get back on that horse, Cuddy. Will you be looking for people with martial arts experience this time or will you just hope for the best?"

"You're an ass." She told him harshly before pushing him out of the kitchen. "Just get out."

House allowed himself to be pushed out and headed back to the living room. He promised that he'd stay for the night in case Michael came back but he felt like an idiot for creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for the rest of the night.

__

Cuddy looked up at the knock on her office door.

"Look what I've got." Marcus smiled, waving an envelope at her. He walked towards the desk and placed the envelope on her desk, taking a seat opposite her.

"It's done?" She asked, looking at him before grabbing the envelope and ripping it open.

It had been three weeks since she had seen Michael and he had signed the papers and she was just starting to feel like things were going back to how they were before him. The rest of that first night back in her house was quiet and the next day, House left, only returning when he wanted to see Alex. Outside of the hospital, they rarely spoke but their work life remained the same with House ridiculing her at any opportunity or arguing with her to get what he wanted.

"Yup." He sat back, unbuttoning his suit jacket as he relaxed into the chair. "Signed, sealed and delivered by a handsome young man." Marcus smirked.

"Where?" Cuddy pretended to look around him and laughed at his affronted expression. She got up and walked around the desk, and placed a kiss on his cheek. "I'm kidding. You are extremely handsome. I'd marry you if you were interested." She smiled at him.

"I'd marry you too if I were interested."

"Your ego's as bad as House's," she told him, standing up straighter to lean on the desk as she looked through the papers in the envelope.

"The only difference is I'm as "big" as my ego." When he got no response from Cuddy he pulled a disappointed face. "That would work better if House was actually here. Can you page him?"

"No." Cuddy told him firmly. Marcus raised a curious eyebrow at her quick response. "It's nothing."

He let out a disbelieving chuckle and stood up. "So, lunch? I'm paying."

Cuddy looked around at her desk and shrugged her shoulders when she saw that there was not the usual amount of paperwork on it. "Sure." She grabbed her purse and suit jacket and followed her friend through the door.

They were nearing the end of their meal when Cuddy's phone rang. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at the number. _Paul Hart, PG_. She sighed as she saw it was the dean of medicine at Princeton General most likely calling her to ask if House could give a consult on a patient and therefore ending her celebratory lunch.

"Doctor Hart." Cuddy greeted.

"Doctor Cuddy. We just admitted a patient through the ER…he has you down as his next of kin. Michael Johnson. I believe he's your husband." He told her with a sombre tone.

Cuddy was torn as to what she should do. Her instinct was to ask if he was ok but she wanted to wash her hands of him. "What happened?" She asked knowing she couldn't be as cold as to correct him.

"He took an overdose of anti depressants. He was unconscious when he came in but the staff performed a gastric lavage and he's currently stable. He's been asking for you since he woke up."

Cuddy let out the breath she was holding and shook her head at Marcus when he looked at her inquiringly. "I'm glad he's ok Doctor Hart but Michael and I are no longer married. I believe his mother's number is in his file."

"Oh. I had no idea…he is asking to see you though…"

Cuddy felt harsh for what she was about to say but she felt it was unnecessary to rush to his side now that they were no longer together. "I'm extremely busy right now Doctor Hart. If you could tell him that I'm glad he's ok that would be great. Thank you for letting me know. Good bye."

"Good…bye."

Cuddy pressed the disconnect button and let out a sigh.

"What happened?" Marcus asked, taking a sip of his water.

Cuddy stared at the phone for a moment before looking up at her friend. "Michael overdosed on his anti depressants." A wry laugh escaped her. "I can't believe that bastard." She exclaimed. "The day our divorce is finalised, he tries to kill himself? And not only that but he thinks I'll come running?"

"Wow." Marcus replied. "He tried to kill himself? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just can't believe – actually, I can believe. Why am I so surprised? Three weeks. I hadn't seen him in three weeks and the final papers come through today and he tries to get my attention –"

Cuddy was interrupted as her phone began to ring once more. She looked down to see that once more, Doctor Hart was calling her and she let out a growl. Marcus reached over and removed the phone from her hand, glancing at it before he answered it.

"This Doctor Cuddy's lawyer…" He trailed off as he listened to what was being said on the other end of the line before removing the phone from his ear and holding it against his shoulder. "Lisa, I think you need to speak to him…Michael's on the roof…"


	11. Chapter 11

**I was gonna say I have no idea why this took so long but then I remembered the amount of work I've had to do this term. I'm so sorry. Essays, presentations, filming, scripts. Uni would actually be kind of fun without all the work. It just gets in the way. I did get to do an essay on House though which I was well excited about lol. The realisation scene in Both Sides Now with all the flashbacks :) **

**Anyway, if anyone's still actually interested in this, hope you enjoy this chapter. This is technically the end and the epilogue will (hopefully) be up before new year but who knows. Thanks for reading and all the reviews on the last chapter.**

* * *

"Bastard. Bastard. Bastard."

Marcus just nodded having allowed Cuddy to vent the whole way to the hospital. She had been cursing her ex husband since she got off the phone with Hart and Marcus had allowed her to without interrupting.

"I should have known he'd do something like this." Cuddy said as they followed Hart up the final staircase that would lead them to the rook. "I should have seen it coming."

Hart stopped and stood aside as they reached the door and Cuddy extended her hand for the door handle before Marcus placed a hand on her forearm stopping her.

"You don't have to do this. Leave the police to deal with him. He's not your responsibility any more."

Cuddy looked him in the eyes and shook her head. "How could I live with myself if I knew he jumped just because I didn't see him?" Marcus nodded in understanding and rubbed her arm.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Cuddy shook her head. "Okay," he whispered. "I'll be right here if you need me."

Cuddy gave both the men a smile before turning and opening the door, stepping out onto the roof leaving the door slightly ajar behind her.

Marcus waited a few moments before turning to Hart. "Stay here and listen out for anything odd. I need to make a phone call."

__

Wilson looked from the remainder of his lunch to House and back again before pushing it across the table towards his friend and went back to reading the file in front of him.

"Taking food from you just gets easier and easier." House said taking a seat and picking up some fries off the plate.

"It's easier to just give in than try and get you to buy your own." Wilson didn't look up from the file as he spoke and went silent again as he continued reading.

House quirked an eyebrow. "So no lecture on how I should talk to Cuddy."

Wilson looked up at the diagnostician in mild confusion. "Why would I do that? I've been saying it for the past three weeks and you haven't listened to me." He went back to reading, reaching for his coffee and taking a sip before putting it back on the table.

"Fine." House shrugged and continued to eat Wilson's lunch.

House had to listen to Wilson's speech about Cuddy everyday since he'd spent the night at her house. He'd reluctantly told him about the exchange between himself and Cuddy that night and had been unable to escape Wilson's 'advice' ever since. He knew that indifference was Wilson's next step and it never worked so instead of concerning himself with his friend's 'sudden' nonchalance, he continued to eat and occasionally threw out the odd comment about a member of staff or telling Wilson about his current patient, knowing that he wouldn't be the one cracking first.

When House was almost finished eating, Wilson dropped the file to the table and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by House's ringing cell phone.

"Hold that thought." House told him with a smirk, pulling out his phone from his pocket and flipping it open. "Yeah?"

"Greg, it's Marcus."

"I told you, I'm not into men."

"Greg, this is serious. I'm at Princeton General," House sat up straighter in his seat, his mind racing as to why Cuddy's best friend was calling him from a hospital. "Lisa got a call saying Michael had over dosed on anti depressants –"

"So she figured it would be a good idea to go running to him?" He asked frowning.

"He's on the roof. He threatened to jump if Lisa didn't see him."

"So let him jump. Wait…Cuddy has one hell of a guilt complex…she's up there with him now." It was a comment rather than a question but Marcus answered anyway.

"Yes."

House stood from his seat and motioned for Wilson to follow him as he left the cafeteria and headed to through to the lobby. "You let her go up there alone?"

"It was her choice. I offered to go out there with her –"

"That's where you went wrong. You don't offer you just go out there. Where are the police? They should be dealing with his shit." He reached the elevators and pressed the call button, tapping his cane on the linoleum floor as he waited for it to arrive, Wilson at his side.

"They're waiting for a specialist or something and I'm not you, Greg. It was her choice –"

House interrupted him again. "Shut up. Go up there and call me if anything happens."

Marcus ran a hand through his hair and let out a harsh sigh. "Is that it? You're not coming?"

Wilson stepped into the elevator and held it, waiting for House to finish on the phone.

"Yes, I'm coming but go up there until I turn up." He said slowly. "And get the police up there. Waiting around at the bottom doesn't help anyone, unless they intend to catch him." He added sarcastically before hanging up and stepping inside the elevator, pressing the button for his floor.

Wilson looked at him expectantly as he watched his friend put his phone away and stare at the numbers above the door. "Well?"

"Cuddy's at Princeton Gen."

"Is she okay? What happened?" Wilson asked, worry evident in his voice.

"She needs her head looking at. That douche tried to kill himself then ran up to the roof threatening to jump if Cuddy didn't speak to him. She's up there now hopefully trying to talk him into jumping if she's got any sense left."

The elevator arrived at their floor and they made a beeline for House's office. Wilson stood by the door as House changed his blazer for his leather jacket and grabbed his bike helmet and keys.

"You need to pick up Alex while I go drag her off the roof." House told his friend making his way past him and back to the elevators.

"Wait." Wilson placed his hand on his shoulder to stop him. "You're not going to leave him up there to jump are you?"

House looked at him and said nothing before turning to the elevators and pressing the down button.

"House, you can't." Wilson said as House stepped into the elevator.

House turned around and pushed the button for the lobby. "What he does is his business." He finally answered before the doors slid shut.

__

Cuddy saw Michael as soon as she stepped out on to the roof. He was stood on the edge with his back as he looked down at the people gathering below. He turned when he heard footsteps from behind him and smiled when he saw Cuddy standing there glaring at him.

"I knew you'd come." He grinned at her.

Cuddy sighed. "I came because I didn't want to be responsible for you jumping from a hospital roof. It doesn't mean anything other than a clean conscience." She told him sternly.

His face dropped at her words. "Why would you tell me that?" He asked, confusion written across his face.

"Because, even though you are standing on the edge of a hospital roof, I don't want you to get the wrong idea." She was holding it together on the outside and was hoping to talk him down without sending out any mixed messages but on the inside she was a mess, her emotions completely conflicted.

They stood staring at each other for a few moments, sadness evident on his face while Cuddy kept her face void of any emotion at all. It was like she had completely removed herself, emotionally, from the situation. Eventually she looked away from him and brushed a strand of hair away from her face that was blown out of place by the wind that was stronger at this height.

"Why am I here, Michael?" She asked him while looking past him at the tops of some of the neighbouring buildings. She turned her head to face him once more, looking in his eyes whilst giving nothing away. "What did you want to talk about?"

Michael hung his head and turned back round to face the rest of the world. "I got the finalised papers through this morning…"

"So did I." Cuddy crossed her arms across her chest and stared at his back. She really didn't want him to jump because of her yet she couldn't bring herself to say what she knew he wanted her to, just to get him to come down. She lowered her arms and took a step closer to him.

"You knew when you signed the papers that this was going to happen. It's over."

"I never wanted this to happen…" He whispered and took another step forward.

"Michael! Don't!" She ran forward and stopped when he turned to face her.

"Why? You said it yourself. It's over." His eyes were beginning to water and Cuddy could only watch as some of the tears broke the surface and ran down his cheeks. "I have nothing – "

"You've still got your job and you're getting help…"

Michael shook his head and lifted his face skyward. "I don't have a job…"

Cuddy furrowed her brow. He wasn't surely going to blame her leaving on the fact that he'd lost his job. "But…what about the partnership?"

"I didn't get it. They fired me instead. Everything in my life is turning to shit!" He shouted and turned back round, toes curling over the edge of the building.

"Michael! Please don't do this. You're seeing a doctor already. You're making decisions to prove you want to change…Michael, please…"

He looked over his shoulder at her. "But making those changes doesn't mean I'll get you back, does it?"

Cuddy couldn't answer. She didn't know what to tell him. She didn't want to tell him that she would take him back just to get him to come off the roof but she didn't want him to jump either. She could feel the seconds dragging out as she tried to come to a decision watching as Michael turned back round.

"Yes!" She shouted, not thinking about what she was saying. "If you come down, we can talk. Discuss things. Get you into anger management and then…see…"

Michael froze, just as he was about to take a step forward before stepping back and turning to face her instead. "You're just saying that."

Cuddy tried to keep the guilty expression off her face as she spoke. "No…I mean it."

They stared at each other, for what seemed like hours but were only minutes, as he tried to gauge her expressions. She knew what he wanted her to say and she just needed to make him believe it enough so that he would step down off the ledge and Hart could give him a sedative.

Finally, he took a step down, a smile on his face, and Cuddy could feel herself relaxing. She was going to wait until he was close enough to the door before calling out.

He was down and taking slow, shaky steps towards her when the she heard a loud bang from behind her. She snapped her head round to see what was happening and was shocked to see House standing in the doorway before taking a step, catching the door on the rebound from him flinging it open against the wall and closed it behind him.

"Am I too late to join the party?"

Cuddy glared at his facetiousness and looked back to see how Michael was responding to House's arrival. He seemed agitated as he started walking back towards the edge.

"House," she hissed, turning round to face him. "Get out of here. I'm dealing with it."

"You seem to be dealing well." He nodded his head at Michael and she looked back once more to see he was on the ledge, looking down at the people milling about the hospital, looking back up at him.

"Michael."

"You lied to me."

"What?" Cuddy asked stepping closer to him.

"You lied to me. You wanted to get me down so that House could use a sedative or kick my ass again." He looked back at her. "You knew he was out there."

"I didn't – "

"Woah, what happened to the guy that gave me quite a beating too? He up here?" He looked around as though searching for someone else and when he found no one, looked back at the man standing in a hospital gown about to jump off the roof. "Pretty sure a few months ago, you were conniving and threatening to beat her again. Now look at you. You're pathetic."

"House!"

"He's right, Lisa. I am."

Cuddy threw a glare at House and he just looked at her pointedly at Michael's words as if to say 'see?' She shook her head and focused back on her ex husband once more.

"Come back down, Michael. I said we can sort things out – "

"You said what?!" House asked, narrowing his gaze on the back of her head. He walked towards her until he was standing right beside her. "Tell me you're joking."

She shot him a warning look and he stared back in mild confusion until it clicked. "I get it," he said in a stage whisper, knowing that Michael would be able to hear him, "you're just saying it to get him to come down. Clever." He winked at the glare he was getting from her and it took everything in her power not to turn and slap him.

"I meant it, Michael. Just please, come down." Michael ignored her and was once more edging closer to the side.

"I'm pregnant." She blurted out and both men on the roof froze. House stared at her profile, incredulous to the fact that she was telling him and Michael had turned to look over his shoulder, confused. "It's yours." She whispered hoping that now he would come down and be responsible.

"You're…pregnant…?" Cuddy could only nod, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she waited for his reaction.

"She's lying," House piped up. "It's mine – oomph." Cuddy had flung her arm out to hit him in the stomach and he doubled over, winded.

Michael looked at her with the expression of a child when they've been told Santa doesn't exist.

"It's yours, Michael." She told him placing a hand on her stomach. "This baby is yours. Don't jump. Don't deny him or her the chance to know their father."

Michael looked back down over the edge of the building while Cuddy and House waited for his reaction to the news that had just been shared. After a few minutes, he turned back round to face them and focused on Cuddy.

"You made me realise the type of person I am. I manipulate, lie, get angry…lash out…" He said sadly. "And since you left me, I'm depressed and unstable…You were right to be scared when I picked Alex up from school that day. I'm not the type of person that should be around children – or anyone for that matter." He took a step back, heels hanging off the edge of the hospital. "This is best for everyone involved including that baby." He said gesturing towards Cuddy's stomach. "I'm sorry."

Cuddy panicked. She knew what was coming and lurched forward but it was too late as she watched Michael take a final step back and disappear from view. She stood staring at the space he had occupied, shock evident on her face and tears in her eyes when House stepped up beside her. His face was completely void of any kind of emotion as he shifted his gaze from where Michael once stood to Cuddy.

Eventually, she looked up at him. "He…jumped…" She whispered as the tears escaped and trailed down her cheeks.

House simply nodded as she stared up at him with sad grey eyes before pressing her face into his chest and letting a few soft sobs escape her as House hesitantly wrapped an arm around her. He looked once more at the space Michael had occupied feeling nothing but relief as Cuddy took comfort from being in his arms.

__

Cuddy was sat a few rows from the front of the church with Marcus and Wilson on either side of her with identical sombre looks on their faces. Her left hand was resting on Marcus' knee, her fingers linked with his and occasionally throughout the service, he would give her hand a squeeze which she would return and give him a small smile, reassuring him she was indeed ok.

She hadn't cried for Michael since the day he had walked off the edge of the building and although she felt saddened by his death, her eyes were still dry as she sat through his funeral.

House hadn't reacted when she told him that she would be going to the funeral and Cuddy had secretly hoped that he would go with her after all the support he'd given her. She had been disappointed when he had simply offered to look after Alex instead of going with her but when Wilson had visited her office later that day offering to accompany her, she smiled at the fact House was still looking out for her.

Cuddy looked up to the teary eyed man stood at the front beside the coffin as he finished his reminiscent speech about his youngest cousin before saying a tearful goodbye and going back to his seat.

The priest took his place at the front of the front of the ceremony once again, closing the service as the coffin entered the cremation chamber and disappeared from view. It was silent for a few moments apart from the sobs coming from the people at the front before someone stood and thanked everyone for coming.

Wilson turned to Cuddy and Marcus. "Do you want to go to the wake?" He whispered.

Cuddy shook her head and stood up, the two men following her lead, Marcus still holding her hand. "No, I'm going to offer my condolences to his mom then we can go home."

Wilson and Marcus both nodded and walked with her to Michael's mother who was stood at the front crowded by people offering their sympathies.

"Lisa." Irene Johnson fought her way through the crowd towards her ex-daughter in law and threw her arms around her.

"Irene." Cuddy replied not allowing herself to get squeezed too hard with her stomach trapped between them.

"Thank you, Lisa. It means a lot to me that you're here even after everything that's happened between the two of you."

Lisa shifted slightly. "What did he tell you?" She asked hesitantly.

Irene sniffed and dabbed at her nose with her handkerchief before offering Cuddy a watery smile. "He came to me after you filed the papers. He didn't tell me why, just said it was his fault and that he was going to try and get you back…" She said sadly.

Cuddy nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop him – "

Irene shook her head and grasped Cuddy's shoulders. "It's not your fault. It's not my fault. It was down to him. Nothing could have stopped him…"

"I know." Cuddy whispered. Irene raised her brows at her response and Cuddy looked round at her two friends who were talking quietly between themselves. She turned back. "I…told him something that I thought would get him to come down…I'm pregnant."

"Oh, my…Really?" When Cuddy nodded Irene was silent for a while, before a choked sound escaped her throat. "I don't...And he still…?"

"Yes," Cuddy said quietly.

Irene took a step back and looked down at Cuddy's stomach. At just over three months, Cuddy was beginning to show but not so much that she couldn't hide it beneath her clothes.

"Three months," she said, answering Irene's unanswered question.

The two women were quiet for a while as Irene continued to switch her gaze between Cuddy's stomach and her face, still trying to process the good news she had received on the day of her son's funeral.

"Irene? Is everything ok?" Both women turned to see one of Irene's nephews eyeing Cuddy warily before turning to his aunt with a look of concern on his face.

Cuddy turned to look at Marcus and Wilson as Irene tried to dismiss her nephew. She could hear their heated whispered conversation and from some of the words he was throwing out, she could tell that some of Michael's family members blamed her for the suicide of their relative and judging by the gentle hand on her shoulder, Wilson and Marcus could also hear. She turned to see both men standing close behind her with Wilson's hand resting on her shoulder and both offering supportive smiles.

"Are you ready to leave?" Marcus asked her before throwing a glare at the man that was now looking at them.

"Lisa, please excuse Simon. He's just upset," Irene said throwing a look at the man before he wandered back to the rest his family. Cuddy felt Wilson and Marcus back up slightly, giving their alpha male personas a rest as the 'threat' to the one of the important women in their lives backed off.

Cuddy looked back at Irene as she started talking again. "I hope we can come to some kind of arrangement for me to see my grandchild…"

Cuddy nodded as though it was the most obvious thing to say. "I would never dream of keeping you away from this child." She told the older woman. They smiled at eachother for a moment before Irene spoke up once more.

"Will you be coming to the wake?" She asked, hope in her voice that they may be able to chat a bit more about baby things. This would, after all, be her only grandchild.

Cuddy shook her head softly. "I don't think so. I'd quite like to get back to Alex..."

Irene nodded her head in understanding. "Of course. Call me any time Lisa." She said, pulling the woman into another hug. "Anytime." Cuddy nodded against the woman's shoulder before she was relesed.

"I'll speak to you soon, Irene. And, I'm sorry for your loss." Cuddy said, placing a comforting hand on the woman's arm before turning to Marcus and Wilson and gesturing towards the door.

__

"Ready...GO!" House limped as fast as he could up the path to Cuddy's house, holding his arm out to prevent Alex getting ahead of him. He reached the door and continued holding Alex back with his arm as he slowly reached for the door before finally making contact and letting his son go.

"You cheated!" Alex shouted, a pout on his face.

"Ah," House said holding up a finger, "but I won. Lesson in life son, do whatever you have to, to win." He smirked then crouched down to the plant pot beside the front door. He lifted it and grabbed the key from underneath before standing once more and placing it in the lock, allowing Alex to run in and head to his bedroom once he had opened the door.

For a moment, House hesitated, looking at the plant pot as he contemplated putting the key back and instead stepped inside the house and closed the door behind him.

"Dad!"

House looked down the hallway to see Alex holding up two water pistols.

"I found them." He said with a mischevious smile that House answered with one of his own before placing the key in his pocket and limping towards Alex.

__

Even if House's car wasn't parked out in front of her home, Cuddy would still be able to tell that House was inside. The plant pot that had obviously been moved and, after investigating, the key to her home missing, the shouting and laughter she heard when she opened the front door and the water she saw on the floor and walls the closer she got to the back door causing a bubble of anger within her, anger that diminished when she saw House and Alex playing out in the back garden. She leaned agaisnt the door and watched them with a smile on her face. She couldn't help smiling whenever she saw House and Alex together, especially when she thought about how House had originally decided not to get involved. And now, here he was, having a water fight in her back yard with their son.

She was looking at Alex when she felt water hit her chest. "House!" She shouted, turning to glare at the man who was still squirting water at her as Alex looked on laughing.

"That should really be a white shirt you're wearing." House said with a smirk before finally relenting turning the pistol away from her. "But it's sticking to you nicely so I'll take it." He leered at her as she pulled her jacket closed over the shirt that was indeed sticking to her figure.

House continued to smirk as he pat Alex on the back with his water pistol. "Fun's over now your mom's back. Go get changed." He handed the toy over to Alex to empty and put back and followed him as he walked back inside the house.

Cuddy laced a hand on the back of Alex's head as he passed and quickly grabbed her jacket as she caught House leering at her once more.

"You're an ass."

"I know. Reassuring isn't it?" He said as he squeezed by her and headed to the front door.

"What, you're not going to say good bye to him?" She asked following him down the hallway as House grabbed his keys from the table in the living room.

House turned to look at her. "I'm just going to get a change of clothes from the car. My shirt's doing what yours should have done; gone see through." He said pulling at the material sticking to his chest and opening the front door. "I'll be back in a minute."

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you back in?" Cuddy asked, arms folded.

"Don't need you to." House held up a single key amongst the various keys on his chain. "I've got this."

Cuddy stared at her house key that he was holding up in front of her before a smile finally made an appearance. "You took the key."

House nodded and lowered his arm as he opened the door. "As you said, this way, I can let myself in _anytime I want_."

Cuddy's face fell as his words sunk in and House smiled at her reaction and headed to his car whistling. Cuddy shook her head and turned to her bedroom to change as quickly as possible before House appeared while she was half naked.

__

It was getting late. Alex was in bed, Cuddy was tidying up in the kitchen and House was sat in the living room watching TV, arm spread across the back of the sofa and his feet on the coffee table. Cuddy walked in and flopped down beside him, head back as she let out a sigh.

"Long day?"

Cuddy turned to look at House who glanced at her before looking back at the TV.

She nodded. "Yeah." The funeral and the talk she'd had with Irene had been difficult.

"How're you feeling?"

Cuddy furrowed her brow and then relaxed as she realised House was trying to be a normal civil human being.

"I'm…ok. I didn't want him to die and wish things had happened differently – "

"You didn't kill him, Cuddy." House interrupted looking at her. "He killed himself."

"I know but if I had handled things differently…"

House shook his head. "No, if he hadn't hit you in the first place. You did what you should have done when it first happened."

"Exactly. If I had walked out after the first time maybe things wouldn't have happened this way."

"Cuddy, your guilt isn't endearing, it's just annoying." He said turning back to the TV.

They were silent for a moment before Cuddy spoke. "I told Michael's mom about the baby." She watched as he froze for a moment and then nodded his head.

"…How'd she take it?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the TV.

"She was happy. Really happy. Irene's looking forward to meeting her only grandchild."

"She was happy at her son's funeral?" House asked turning to her. He simply shrugged when she raised an eyebrow at him and she rolled her eyes and let out a chuckle knowing that keeping up the pretence was too much for him. She reached forward and placed a hand on his cheek bringing his head closer and placed a gentle kiss on the corner of his mouth before curling her feet up on the sofa and laying her head on his shoulder to watch TV.

"You know that was the only way you were going to get him out of your life for good right?" House commented, looking down at the top of her head. Cuddy didn't answer, instead placing her hand on his chest as she admitted to herself that House was right.


	12. Epilogue

**So sorry this has taken so long. Been really busy and when I haven't, I wasn't really inspired to write anything. Now that I've finished uni for summer and had a break, I'm kind of back to it again. I have decided that I won't be posting any more multi-cap fics before they're already finished or I at least know what direction they're going in. I think this took over a year and I'm not really impressed with myself for that.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, added this (and me) to their favourites. I really appreciate it. I hope this was worth the wait. I really struggle with endings so I hope it fits well with the rest. There might be a few mistakes, so sorry about that. I just wanted to get it posted. Thanks for reading.**

**Also, I changed my screen name just because I wanted it to match the other sites I use.**

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"_House?" Cuddy called out as she made her way out of her bedroom, one hand on her stomach and the other against the wall as she supported herself. She had gone to bed early leaving House to look after Alex and didn't know if he was still around (she had often woken up the next morning to find him in her bed and, to her inital surprise, her head using his chest as a pillow) or if he had gone back to his apartment but she called out for him nonetheless._

"_House?" As she got closer to Alex's room, she sighed in relief as she saw his figure shifting in the bed as she continued walking towards him. "House, wake up." She whispered as she shook his arm gently._

_His eyes opened slowly and he rolled his eyes as he saw Cuddy standing over him. He gently removed his arm from under Alex and lifted his bad leg so he could sit with his legs hanging over the side of the bed._

"_What time is it?" He asked as he rubbed his hands over his face. Alex had been suffering from tonsillitis and House had spent hours trying to get him to sleep._

"_House, the contractions are coming closer together." She answered him with instead._

_He froze and his hands slowly slid down his face until only his eyes were showing, staring at her in a slight panic. "How many in the past two hours?" he asked, removing his hands and reaching out for his cane that was resting against the bed side table._

"_Nine. And they're getting stronger." She said. Her waters had broken earlier in the day with only one or two contractions every hour and, preferring to wait in her home than rush straight to the hospital, she told House and then contacted Doctor Guerrier who both agreed there was no point in going to the hospital yet. She had changed, placed her bag by the front door and gone to bed. She had been dozing between contractions when a particularly strong one took hold followed, fifteen minutes later, by an even stronger one. That was when she had gotten up to let House know._

_House nodded before looking down at Alex who was still asleep before standing up and gesturing to the hallway. He let Cuddy use his left arm to keep herself stable and they had only just made it out and closed the door when Cuddy was hit with another contraction and she gripped House's arm. House looked at his watch and timed the contraction._

"_Fourty three seconds." He muttered to himself as Cuddy released her grip on his arm. He led her to the bedroom and sat her down before pulling his cellphone from his pocket._

_"House, it's nearly midnight." Wilson groaned into the phone._

_"Cuddy's in labour." He said, not taking any notice of what Wilson said. "I need you to come to her place."_

_"Why can't you take her to the hospital?" Wilson asked, getting out of bed anyway._

_"I need you to come and look after Alex. He's got tonsillitis."_

_"Oh." Came Wilson's surprised answer. "You _are_ going to go with her?' He asked._

_"No, I'm going home." House replied, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "Just get over here." He said before hanging up. He looked back at Cuddy who was sitting looking up at him._

_"Wilson's on his way." _

_Cuddy frowned at him. "I thought you called him earlier?"_

_"I was busy. Alex is sick in case you didn't notice." Cuddy relented and he nodded towards the top of the bed. "Move back, let me see how far you're dilated."_

_Cuddy scoffed. "I don't think so. Pass me the phone. I'll ask Mrs Gerrard to watch Alex until Wilson arrives."_

_"Cuddy, I'm a doctor." He went to her bed side table anyway and handed her the phone. "I spend hours in the clinic looking at people's crotch rot."_

_Cuddy just ignored him and rang the woman and a few minutes and another contraction later, there was a knock at the door._

_"Help me up." Cuddy said out of breath, the last contraction having taken a lot out of her._

_"You got up before to get me." House said heading to the front door to let the old lady in._

_"Jerk." _

_He smirked as he heard Cuddy breathing heavily as she pushed herself to her feet._

_"Mrs Gerrard." House said with fake enthusiasm as he opened the door. "To what do we owe the plesure?"_

_The woman looked at him with an odd expression when Cuddy appeared at his elbow, pushing him to the side so the woman could enter the house._

_"Ignore him Mrs Gerrard. Thank you for coming. James Wilson shouldn't be too long."_

_"It's no problem, Lisa." Now go before I have to deliver the baby myself." She told her, ushering her through the door._

_"Why would you deliver the baby when I'm the doctor?" House asked as Cuddy grabbed his arm and pulled him towards his car. Mrs Gerrard just glared at him before closing the door. "Lovely woman." House muttered. "Uh uh," he said shaking his head as he realised which car she was going to. "I don't think so. I'm not messing up my car."_

_"Just open the door and get me to the damn hospital." Cuddy said through gritted teeth._

_House had made it to the hospital in record time and Cuddy had gone through admissions quickly and was now hooked up to a foetal monitor. She had spent twenty minutes walking around the hallways leaning on House for support and he had offered his hand for her to squeeze through the contractions and done all the things that the father to be usually did surprising not only Cuddy but himself. This wasn't even his child yet he was there through out the whole process._

_Joshua Cuddy was born on the eigth of December at two fify six in the morning and House had witnessed the entire thing._

* * *

House had let himself in to Cuddy's house and upon hearing the voice of an old woman, crept past the living room and into Cuddy's bedroom to wait.

Cuddy had of course seen him but since Josh had started calling him daddy (something that had not initially been welcomed by the cranky diagnostician) she had decided that when Michael's mother was around, House couldn't be.

She smiled as the woman before her showed Josh yet another picture of her son, pointing to it and trying to get the sixteen month old to call him daddy. The boy simply laughed and shook his head, placing his chubby fingers in his mouth. This time, he attempted to climb down off her lap to join his big brother playing in the corner of the room.

"Down." He said looking up into the woman's face with a smile.

She smiled back at him, picking him up off her lap and setting him on the floor, watching as he walked over to Alex and sat down heavily with a dull thud as his diaper made contact with the wooden flooring.

"He's got Michael's smile," Irene said looking at the boys playing in the corner.

Cuddy simply smiled as she too looked at her sons. It was something she had noticed too and she hadn't exactly been thrilled by it at first. The haunting image of Michael as he smiled down at her after hitting her had haunted her for a few nights until she saw Joshua as his own person. She attempted to disconnect the two images and succeeded. To her now, that was, and always will be, Josh's smile.

"Oh, I think my ride's here." Irene announced as a car horn sounded from outside.

She pushed herself up to a standing position and made her way over to the boys while Cuddy stood between the living room and hallway. It was starting to get late and she was internally relieved that Irene was finally going, as much as she enjoyed her company, she could be a little over bearing at times.

She glanced down the hallway to see House poke his head round the door frame and pull a face. Cuddy just rolled her eyes and made a gesture for him to go back inside the room just as Irene turned to face her with Josh in her arms and walked towards the front door.

"Daddy!"

Cuddy whipped her head back around to catch House duck out of sight as Irene leaned back to look at the child's smile as he continued to look over her shoulder. Cuddy looked back into the living room to see Alex stand up and run towards her and she inwardly cursed House for not keeping out of sight of the infant.

"You see daddy?" Josh's grandmother asked him.

Josh nodded and he pointed over her shoulder as the old woman turned to smile at Cuddy.

"I've always believed children have a sixth sense." She told her as she handed the toddler over to his mother. "He's watching over his family. No matter what happened he's still looking out for you."

Cuddy smiled as sincerely as possible and fought the urge to roll her eyes while holding onto Alex's shoulder as he tried to make his way past her to see if his dad was indeed around. She didn't know what to say in reply so she remained silent.

Irene leant forward to give Josh a kiss and then did the same to Cuddy and Alex.

"Say goodbye to grandma." Cuddy said to the boys as they waved her off down the path. Before the older woman had even gotten into the cab, Cuddy could hear House make his way down the hall and Cuddy waved one last time before closing the door.

"Why do you have to make things with Irene so difficult?" Cuddy said turning to face House as the boys' eyes lit up at the sight of him. Alex freed himself from his mother's grip and rushed forward while Josh struggled in her arms. "I told you to come round an hour later." She held onto Josh even as he started to fuss and moan.

"Daddy."

House took a step closer and pulled the restless child from Cuddy's arms. "I told you not to call me that, kid." He said, although Cuddy now knew it was all a pretense. He shifted the boy until he was holding him by the waist under his arm and followed Alex into the living room with Josh laughing and clapping his hands at the different angle he was getting of the world

"Well?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"Well what?" House asked as he sat on the sofa and sat Josh on his lap facing the TV before looking up at Cuddy. "She didn't see me so stop worrying. She's gonna have to find out at some point anyway." He added, taking a wii steering wheel from Alex and placing his arms round Josh as he prepared to play.

Cuddy let out a sigh and sat next to him as Alex settled at her feet leaning against the sofa as he started the game.

"I know. I just don't know how she'll react to another man bringing up her grandson."

"Relax, Cuddy. Invite her over again and I'll be on my best behaviour. I'll show her I'm a good influence."

Cuddy raised an eyebrow at him. "She's already met you." She told him.

"Then there's no need to worry about her seeing me then. It'll be fine."

"'Fine.' When has anything with you just been 'fine?'" Cuddy muttered.

"Just trust me. Hey," he said turning his attention to Josh who was trying to take the wheel out of his hands, "stop trying to sabotage me. I'll pay you double what he's paying you." He sucessfully pulled the wheel from Josh's tight grasp and smiled slightly at the boy's laughter.

Cuddy nodded and drew her feet up on to the sofa, smiling slightly. With those simple words, she felt at ease. Michael had been dead for nearly two years now and House had stuck around and been there for her during everything. He was still a pain in the ass at the hospital and she had lost count of the number of times he had decided to seek revenge on her negative decisions to his requests by allowing the boys to do things she would never allow. Like the time he gave the boys sweets before bedtime and disappeared to his apartment or when he hid the one toy that Josh refused to sleep without.

Despite the fact that House was still House, she trusted him when it came to her and the boys' welfare. As much as he'd like to deny the fact, he had accepted his role in their dysfunctional family and everything seemed to be working well. Something that had lost many of her employess a lot of money (except House who had placed a number of bets in his favour through different people for a small share of the winnings).

"Cuddy."

House rolled his eyes and called Cuddy again before gesturing to Alex. "Cover his eyes or something. If he gets an accomplice, so should I."

Instead, Cuddy reached over to remove Josh from his lap and pulled back when he blocked her. "Let me take him and then maybe you can have a fair and honest game." She told him.

"Fair and Honest...they're names of hookers right?"

"House." Cuddy hissed glaring at him.

House simply shrugged. "Either do something to help me out or you're kids will grow up to be as blunt and sarcastic as me."

Cuddy raised an eyebrow. "_Our_ kids."

"That one's mine. This one's a bas-"

"House!"

"Actually, so is he," he stated gesturing towards Alex again and ignoring Cuddy's glare. "But this one doesn't have a dad." He amended.

"Daddy!" Josh exclaimed, hitting House's hands and turning to look at him with a smile.

"Nope," House said, "I just said, you don't have a dad."

Josh took this as his cue to repeat his previous actions.

House glanced at Cuddy then back to the game. "Definately not mine. He's an idiot. Doesn't understand a word I just said do you, you little -"

"That's enough, House." Cuddy said, reaching over and pulling the boy from his lap onto hers. "Daddy's the idiot isn't he?" She said to Josh in playful tone, smiling as the little boy laughed and clapped his hands. House threw a glare in her direction and she simply smirked back at him as she leaned back in the chair and Joshua snuggled into her, the back of his head tucked against her neck as he became enthralled by the game on the TV and plaved his thumb in his mouth.

Cuddy looked at her family. It still sometimes felt odd to say that and include House but, whether he liked it or not, he was a part of her family - always had been, even when she was with Michael. They were in some kind of just-about-functioning relationship and between the two of them, they were doing a good job raising their children. They still fought and did everything in their power to annoy eachother but she didn't expect anything else from a relationship with House. Her sons were happy and, from what she could tell, House was...content. After everything that had happened, she was happy. Her life wasn't perfect by any means but she would take this.


End file.
